Everything Happens For A Reason
by CSIsnickers101
Summary: Sometimes in life things don't always go the way we want or expect. But that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. Maybe, just maybe, everything happens for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

Everything Happens For A Reason

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI.

A/N: I'm back! Feels like it's been years since I wrote anything. Here's the start of yet another multi-chapter story. I'm not sure yet how long it'll be so we'll just see how it goes. I came up with this idea last Christmas but wanted to work on all my other ideas first before starting on this. I'm not really sure when this is set, I just know that it's not recent. Anyway, let me know what you think of this.

Chapter 1

A loud and rather irritating buzzing noise woke Sara from her deep sleep. She wriggled around a bit and stretched out her arms as a yawn took over her face. She brought one hand up to her eyes to give them a rub before trying to focus on the illuminating red numbers on her digital alarm clock. Though her eyes were bleary and half closed she could just about make out the time: 19:03. Crap!

Her eyes shot open as she pushed herself into a seating position. She checked the time once again now that she was more awake and her worst fears were confirmed; she was going to be late. What a perfect way to start the evening. She hated tardiness in general, people who flatly refused to put the effort into being on time for things, but she hated it mostly in herself. They say you should practice what you preach, so Sara always set her alarm clock an hour earlier than she needed to ensure she had the correct amount of time to get herself ready for the evening ahead, and yes, quite often she would arrive at the lab with plenty of time to spare, but that's how she liked it. For whatever reason she had overslept and now had a million and one things to do in the shortest amount of time possible. She clambered out of bed and headed straight for her kitchen to get the kettle boiling for her evening coffee fix, to keep her going till she made it to the lab. As she made her way to her bathroom her stomach gurgled indicating that it had clearly been a while since she last ate, but food would have to wait. Sara jumped into the shower for a quick freshen up, quickly found some clean clothes and gave her teeth a gentle scrub. She went on to pour herself a strong, black coffee and then gave her hair a light blow dry, just getting rid of the excess moisture before combing it into place. She gave herself the once over, making sure she looked presentable before facing the world, downed what was left of her coffee in one mouthful and reached for the door.

Sara ground to a sudden halt as she came face to face with her landlord on the other side of her door.

"I was just about to knock," Barry, her landlord, stated.

"I'm just on my way to work, so...," Sara insisted, trying to move last him.

"Uh... This is for you," he said nervously, handing over an envelope with her name on it.

"I'm not being evicted, am I?" Sara raised an eyebrow, only half joking.

"No," Barry shook his head. "Well... Only temporarily..."

She narrowed her eyes as she tore open the letter. She quickly scanned over it and she was full on glaring at her landlord of many years when she looked up at him again. "Fumigated? We're being fumigated?!"

"Trust me, I'm not very happy about it either," he insisted. "We've got a termite problem downstairs, and the expert reckons that if they're downstairs then there's a chance they could be in the whole building. It's safer for everyone to move out for a couple of weeks."

"Why the hell am I only hearing about this now?" Sara exclaimed.

"That's my fault. Everyone else got their letters a few weeks back but yours must have got lost. I only found it this morning," Barry tried to explain.

"And you want me out by tomorrow?" she raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Yes," he nodded. "I'm sorry, but my hands are tied. There's nothing I can do. I've got some guys coming tomorrow to start working and it's going to take awhile, and the sooner they get started the sooner it'll be finished. Obviously, you won't be paying rent this month and next months will be halved to apologise for any inconvenience caused. But you know, health and safety... it's gotta be done."

"Where am I going to stay?" Sara asked rhetorically, clearly frustrated.

"Vegas has some great hotels...," he offered, rather impishly.

"Yeah, and I've investigated a murder in nearly all of them," she shot back.

"I'm sorry, Sara, really I am," Barry gave her a sympathetic look.

She let out a long sigh, clenching her jaw as she spoke. "It's fine. I'll... I'll sort something out."

Sara plastered on a smile as she walked past him, slamming her door closed behind her.

She let out an irritated sigh as she climbed into her car, throwing the letter and envelope onto the passenger seat. This was just brilliant, just her luck. This was the last thing she needed right now. The only thing that could make her evening even worse was if her car were to break down...

Thankfully her car didn't pack in on her but Sara's mood hadn't improved any by the time she reached the crime lab. She couldn't believe her landlord was doing this to her. She'd lived in that same apartment since she'd been in Vegas and never once had had a single problem. Barry had always been good to her, sorting things out for her when she wasn't around, and her neighbours had always been nice and friendly, an old lady across the hall quite often watered Sara's plants for her. They were just nice people, not much more to say about it. Over time she'd grown to love her little apartment, her humble abode, her tiny sanctuary from the world, despite the fact that she spent more time at the lab than at home. But it was home, her home. The first and only property she had ever lived in in Vegas. They'd been through a lot together, been through some odd decor and furnishings, had their ups and downs, and the occasional leaky pipe and no matter what happened at work or in her personal life that apartment was always there when she needed it. And it was the principle of the matter. If she would have known about what was going to happen in advance then she could have maybe taken some time off, maybe have gone back to California, visit her mum and maybe some old friends, or she could have just spent time mindlessly walking along the beach. But that was out of the question now.

"Good evening, Sara," Nick greeted cheerfully as she walked through the door, winking as he smiled.

"Is it?," she mumbled back, shooting him a pointed stare.

"Oh, well, not the response I was expecting. Not having a good day?" Nick guessed.

"Oh, thank God, your talents aren't completely wasted in this job after all," she retorted, striding across the room in the direction of the coffee maker for her second cup in an hour. She sighed, and tried to calm herself down as she spoke again. "Sorry, not my day today. How about you?"

"I'm alright," he shrugged his shoulders, casting her a concerned glance. "The coffee's good by the way, must mean Greg's here somewhere."

"That's something, I suppose," she muttered.

Sara took herself over to the sink and reached for her mug in the cupboard. She mindlessly proceeded to pour herself some coffee, her mind deep in thought. She very nearly scolded herself had she not snapped back into reality in time. Adding a dash of milk, she gave the dark liquid a gentle stir as she gazed blankly into space.

"Anything I can help with?" Nick wondered, furrowing his brow somewhat as he watched her from where he sat on the sofa.

"Huh?" Sara's neck snapped in his direction and she seemed visibly embarrassed to have not been listening to him.

"Anything I can do to help, with whatever is on your mind?" Nick asked again, smiling softly.

Sara's face broke into a warm smile. "It's nothing I can't handle."

Nick gave a nod of acknowledgment and smiled again slightly before taking a sip of his half-filled lukewarm coffee.

A few moments of easy silence followed, with Sara leaning against the counter, before Warrick bounded through the door.

"God, it feels as though I only just left this place," he stated, sighing as he made his way into the room.

"Hey, man," Nick greeted with a slight wave.

"I'm not late again, am I?" he asked, taking a look over at the clock.

"No, I think you've just about scraped it, like I did," Sara replied, taking out his mug from the cupboard before pouring him some coffee.

"What, you mean you were late?" Warrick mocked a shocked expression.

"Funny, real funny," she scowled, glaring at him.

"Aw, come on, that's all you've got to say? Your comebacks are normally better than that," Warrick insisted, giving her a half smug glance.

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for this right now?" Sara gestured, throwing her arms out wide in exclamation, giving him a pointed stare.

"I wouldn't push it if I were you, Rick," Nick spoke up, giving him a look.

Warrick took a moment to think over the situation, glancing between Sara as she busied herself with the minor task of coffee making and Nick, who clearly didn't think he should start harassing her. There was a time and a place to tease Sara, and now didn't seem like one of those times.

"Come on then, are you gonna tell us what's up?" Warrick asked, opting to play the part of her caring friend, which he thought he usually did rather well.

Sara sighed, walking over to join her male colleagues and handed over Warrick's coffee, glancing over to Nick before beginning to speak. "I've said I can handle it."

"You've got us curious now," he pressed.

Sara narrowed her eyes at him slightly. She knew they weren't going to give up, that just wasn't their style, so she took a deep breath and found herself speaking what was on her mind. "I've just found out I'm going to have live in a hotel for a little while."

Warrick raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How come?"

Sara rolled her eyes just at the thought of it as she continued. "My apartment block is being fumigated so I'm been forced to stay in a hotel. Apparently my building has a termite infestation. I only found out about it today, because the letter to tell me what was going on somehow got lost, or so my landlord says. And the work starts tomorrow."

"Why a hotel?" Nick asked.

"Because I don't have anywhere else to go," she shrugged.

"That's not true. You can come and stay with me," Nick offered automatically. "Only if you want to, of course."

"Really?"

"Sure, I mean, it's gotta be better than a hotel or whatever, and it's definitely cheaper for one thing. Of course you can stay with me, I've got the room," he smiled as the plan formed in his head.

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind?" Sara asked, looking slightly unconvinced.

"Of course I don't mind, I wouldn't have offered for you to stay if I did. I'd enjoy the company," he smiled.

"Well, if you're sure..."

"Yes, I'm sure," Nick rolled his eyes at her persistence.

"Ok then, I guess I'm coming to stay with you for a while, only a couple of weeks, max.," she bit her lip. "I guess I probably should have said that first, right?"

"My spare bedroom will be there for as long as you need it," Nick insisted.

"Thank you," Sara smiled, genuinely flattered by his generosity. "I really appreciate it."

"Well, glad I could have been of some assistance," Warrick said sarcastically.

Sara chuckled lightly as she and Warrick took a seat at the table, Sara passing Nick a glance or two as she sat down. They waited for a little while, and Sara huffed that she needn't of hurried so much to get to work on time if nobody else was going to bother showing up. Both of the men just rolled their eyes at her as they finished their coffees.

A few minutes later, Grissom entered the room, unusually late. "I was in a meeting," he stated. It was then that they noticed Catherine and Greg standing behind him.

Warrick raised an eyebrow, "Did our invite get lost?" he wondered sarcastically.

"New evidence to an old case has surfaced," Grissom stated. "And the conviction could be overturned."

"And we've just been given the third degree by that useless, waste of time, bullshiter, who walks around here like he's a descendant of God himself," Catherine insisted, clearly feeling very peeved by the man everyone else knew as the under sheriff.

Warrick just nodded. "I see."

"It wasn't that bad...," Greg argued. "Yeah, the guy is by far the biggest asshole to ever walk the earth, but he had a point; maybe we missed something."

"Anyway, we'll be going over the old case files," Grissom spoke up. "Nothing's come in yet so you three are on paperwork for a while, but don't get too comfy. I'll keep you posted."

Grissom swiftly turned and left, followed by a rather unhappy Catherine and an over-eager Greg. Sara's eyes followed them as the moved through the hallways, watching as they entered the archive room, Catherine still visibly kicking up a fuss.

Sara was the first one to speak. "So I rushed to be here on time so I could do paperwork... And my day just keeps getting better and better."

"Quit moaning," Nick insisted playfully. "We've got work to do."

Sara rolled her eyes and took the executive decision to leave the room first. Nick and Warrick just gave each other a look, always finding it somewhat amusing when Sara was even more irritable than usual. But they hurried to join her, before she had something else to complain about.

Having collected her case files moments before, Sara sighed frustratedly as she entered one of the spare rooms supposedly used as an overflow room for when people needed more space to work and look over evidence, but usually reserved only for storage and dust collecting. Sara had discovered a while back that sitting in the break room wasn't always a great idea when doing important paperwork, learning the hard way that having people pop in and out of the room constantly was both irritating and highly distracting. So the whole team had agreed that utilising this empty room would make sense in the long run.

She sat herself down and rubbed her face with her hands, as the two men joined her. Her day hadn't started out so bad. She'd gone home exhausted after an average evening at work, made herself some toast and flicked through the TV listings before heading off to her bed for some well needed rest. And it turned out she's needed it an awful lot, as her oversleeping proved. And in all honestly she'd been starting to feel the effects of her lazy day in bed, and she supposed she might have been somewhat cheerful had her landlord not turned up at her door. But doing paperwork was just the tip of the iceberg for Sara, and she didn't need more time to stew on what had gone on. She wasn't usually one for complaining much when it came to doing the necessary paperwork that was required for the conviction of a killer but she had hoped to be able to sink her teeth into a nice juicy murder with twists and turns to challenge her and keep her mind of her temporary homelessness.

"Does this not bug anyone else, or is it just me?" Sara spoke up a short time later.

Warrick couldn't help but chuckle under his breath.

"It has to be done," Nick replied, shaking his head at her child-like behaviour as he read over a report.

"I know that, but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy doing it," Sara continued.

"Well, a murder hasn't been reported, and short of actually killing someone ourselves there's not a lot any of us can do about it," Nick insisted. "So quit yapping, and get writing."

"What you gonna do if I don't?" Sara wondered, teasingly.

Nick just gave her a look. "Don't try me."

Sara rolled her eyes at him, pursing her lips as she picked up her pen again and flicking through a file.

Warrick let out a slight chuckle, bemused by the interactions of his co-workers. "Maybe you two shouldn't live together, even for a couple of weeks, it could end badly," he commented.

"Nah, she'll play by the rules," Nick smiled flirtatiously.

"And what rules are they, Nick?" she looked up at him.

"You'll find out," he winked.

Sara scoffed.

"Well, as much as I love playing the third wheel, I'm gonna go and get some more coffee," Warrick stated teasingly, casting Nick a knowing look as he pushed himself up.

Sara glared at him as a cheeky grin took over his face.

"Anyone else want one?

"I'm good, man," Nick replied, keeping his head down to avoid eye contact.

"Me too," Sara nodded.

Both men turned to look at her.

"I'm not thirsty, is that a crime?" she raised her eyebrows.

"I'll be right back," Warrick stated, not wanting to argue, and swiftly left.

Nick and Sara sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"So what's your favourite movie?" Nick wondered, speaking mostly into himself as he continued to write.

"Thought you told me to shut up and get writing?" Sara commented, teasingly.

"Well, I thought women were supposed to be able to multitask?" Nick shot back.

Sara pursed her lips at him.

"So what's your favourite movie?" Nick asked again. "You'd better not be into any of those indie films that go on forever. And I can promise you now that we won't be watching a single horror movie."

Sara glanced up and watched Nick raise his eyebrows in question. She stopped what she was doing and thought for a second. "I don't suppose I have a favourite film to be honest. What about you? Wait, let me guess... Anything that stars John Wayne?"

"You can't beat a classic western," Nick insisted.

"I wouldn't know," Sara shrugged. "Never really seen one."

"Well we'll soon see to that," Nick smiled.

She could only smile at him. If their behaviour was anything to go on then she knew they would be fine. And the thought occurred to her that she might actually enjoy herself, might actually enjoy spending some time outside her shoebox of a home.

"Would it be okay if I come round after shift with my stuff?" Sara continued. "I'll need a little time to gather up my things but I'll be round once I've sorted everything out, is that okay?"

"Of course it is," Nick nodded.

"Thank you," she smiled. "Thank you for doing this, letting me stay with you."

"I'm really not doing a lot," Nick replied modestly.

"You're letting me live with you, Nick, letting me invade your personal space," Sara maintained. "That's more than a lot in my book."

"It's my pleasure," Nick smiled sweetly.

Sara let out a slight chuckle. "Whoever said chivalry was dead never met you, did they?"

"No, ma'am," he smiled, blushing slightly.

They briefly exchanged looks, Sara unable to control the warm smile that spread across her face. Their eyes met, and they spent more than a few moments just staring at one another.

"Nick?" Grissom popped his head round the door.

"Right here, boss," he snapped his neck towards the voice.

"Suspicious death reported in a home in North Las Vegas, needs investigating," Grissom stated, holding out the piece of paper for him to take. "You can choose who you take with you."

"You got it," he smiled, taking the paper from him.

"How's it going with your paperwork?" Grissom wondered, looking over his glasses slightly.

"You know... It's going...," Nick shrugged, looking over at Sara who nodded in agreement.

"Keep me in the loop," he said before disappearing again.

Nick turned and looked at Sara, cocking an eyebrow. "Fancy a road trip? What Warrick doesn't know won't hurt him, right?"

"I'm driving," Sara pursed her lips, taking the piece of paper out of his hands.

In the end, they didn't stay at the scene very long. It was a pretty open and shut case, as it turned out. The wife had killed her husband for his life insurance policy, but because they had the world's most nosy neighbour the police arrived on the scene before she had chance to get rid of the evidence. They found the gun in the storage cupboard and the woman tested positive for gunshot residue. It all made for a swift return to the lab.

The car slowly ground to a halt. Again. This was getting ridiculous. Sara sat leaning against the passenger side window, staring out across the Vegas skyline, admiring the sunrise. She'd let Nick drive back, and now she was glad she did, if for no other reason than she just didn't have the patience to be going at a snails pace, probably leading to her getting out and punching someone in the face. Nick was much better at that sort of stuff, always so much better than her with people. He, unlike her, had the patience for it. And she was grateful that he was always patient with her, like he had been at the start of the shift when she was busy being cryptic about what was going on inside her head. It wasn't that she was trying to be difficult about it, but Sara had her pride. She didn't want to make a big issue out of it, make more of a fuss than she felt necessary, even though she was angry at how the events had transpired. But she knew that getting angry wouldn't solve her problems so she had to just suck it up and deal with it. That was easier said than done, however. But she knew her friends, and knew they wouldn't give up till she confessed all her worldly sins, and as it turned out it was quite beneficial in the end. She now had somewhere to stay, which was one last thing for her to worry about.

Nick found himself gazing back and forth between the road and Sara as he pulled the handbrake on the car. He leaned his elbow against the car window ledge, resting his head on his hand, as he watched Sara stare out the window, looking thoughtful.

"Everything okay?" he wondered.

Sara merely nodded, half shrugging at the same time.

"I hope you're gonna want to talk more when we're living under the same roof, else we will definitely have a problem," Nick stated, teasingly, raising a curious eyebrow in her direction.

"Somehow I think you'll be able to talk enough for both of us," she retorted.

Nick smirked his reply.

Sara turned her attention to the window again as they seemed to slowly be making headway with the traffic.

"We'll get on alright, won't we?" Sara spoke up, her voice soft.

"Of course we will. We're getting on fine now, aren't we? It's no different," Nick gave her a look, raising an eyebrow at her. "If you don't want to stay with me just say so, I won't be offended."

"No, I do," she instantly replied. "That's not it at all. I just... I know me, and know that I'm probably difficult to live with. I don't want you to feel awkward in your own home."

"You worry too much."

"Still, I don't want to impose. When I mentioned it earlier I wasn't looking for an invite I was just letting off some steam," Sara tried to explain herself. "If you'd rather I not stay with you, just say."

Nick sighed. "Sara, you're staying with me, and that's the end of it."

"If you're sure...," she started, almost blushing.

"Seriously, Sara, it's no trouble. It'll be good. We'll have a laugh, get drunk, maybe I'll be able to convince you to play strip poker..."

"I don't think so, Stokes," she interrupted, trying to look stern and serious as a smile threatened to surface.

"A guy can dream, can't he?" Nick grinned. "We'll be just fine, and you'll be home before you know it."

"Promise me you'll let me know if I'm becoming unbearable," she insisted.

"I'm sure you won't but sure, I promise, if that'll satisfy you," Nick rolled his eyes.

"Thank you," she smiled. "And I promise to be the best houseguest you've ever had."

"I'll hold you to that," Nick insisted playfully, turning and meeting her gaze.

Thank you for reading. More to come soon. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: here's the next chapter. As those of you who have read my stuff before will know I can't write a short chapter, and this is no different. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Nick lumped the box of Sara's 'essentials' onto the counter top in his kitchen, having kindly offered to carry the heavy box inside. He turned and gave Sara a look as she closed the door behind them, resting her medium sized suitcase against the wall.

She looked up to find him staring at her strangely. "What?" she looked confused.

"How much stuff do you need?" Nick replied with a sarcastic question. "Is there anything left in your apartment or is it all in this box?"

"Those are my forensic journals," she defended herself.

"And what? Would they get lonely without you?"

"Don't be a smart ass," she narrowed her eyes at him. "I might need something from them. We don't know what might come up."

Nick raised his hands in surrender. "Fine."

Sara sat herself down on his sofa, and Nick swiftly followed.

She let out a sigh, twisting herself to face him better. "I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have brought so much."

Nick just smiled. "It's fine. I was only joking."

"It'd just be easier if I stayed at a hotel, wouldn't it?" Sara looked down at the floor.

"Sara, it's fine," Nick insisted, chuckling lightly under his breath. "You can't expect to live for two weeks without any of your stuff."

"But I feel like I'm taking advantage of you," she admitted.

"Well, I don't feel taken advantage of," Nick countered. "You're my guest, so make yourself at home."

"Thank you, Nick," Sara smiled genuinely.

Nick shook his head slightly, unable to help but smile at her persistence and stubbornness. "Anytime."

"Seriously, you have no idea what this means to me," she stated, almost shyly.

"That's what friends are for," Nick smiled sweetly.

Sara returned his smile and let out a puff of air. She pushed herself up into a standing position again and made a move for the door, but not before turning back to address her friend, a frown taking over her face. "Are you really sure about this?"

"Anyone would think you want to stay in a hotel," Nick countered, looking over his shoulder at her.

"I really don't," she instantly replied.

"We'll say no more about it then," Nick insisted, smiling slightly.

Sara smiled shyly, ducking her head slightly as she left the room to sort out her belongings. When she reached the kitchen and was confident enough that she was far enough out of earshot of Nick, she let out a deep sigh of relief. She had gradually began stressing more and more about the whole sorry situation that she found herself in. The thought of staying in a hotel for more than a single night made her feel uncomfortable on any given day, yet alone two weeks, maybe more. Sara was never shy to admit she loved her home comforts. And yes, though her apartment wasn't huge or flashy it was still her home, her place to escape the rest of the world when she needed to, and everything she could ever want or need was at her disposal. Plus, she loved her bed. Many people would probably argue that she didn't use it enough but the thought of sleeping in a bed that other people had slept in, that was probably all lumpy and hard... No, she just couldn't. And there was also the added cost to factor in - at a guess, Sara thought she would probably have to fork out double the price of her rent, at the very least. Staying with Nick for a little while was the most logical option. But she still couldn't help but feel awful for imposing. She'd never even considered staying with him or any of the others until he'd brought it up. The last thing she wanted was to get in the way or anything. But after Sara had given Nick plenty of excuses to back out and change his mind, he was still adamant it was fine, and Sara finally seemed to believe him. It was only going to be for a couple of weeks, maybe three at a push, so she had nothing to worry about. Maybe now that she'd quit nagging him about it she would actually be able to enjoy their time together. They'd always got on really well, having clicked from the very beginning, always having a laugh and enjoying each other's company, and she saw no reason what that would stop while she was his houseguest.

"You okay?" Nick appeared in the doorway.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, just gonna move this out of your way," Sara stated.

Nick moved closer to her and reached for the heavy box that he'd assisted her with earlier.

"I've got it," Sara insisted, furrowing her brow as she lifted the box, just about holding its weight.

Nick raised his eyebrows as he watched her, gauging whether she could manage or not, somewhat amused by her stubbornness.

"I don't know why you made such a fuss about it, it's not that heavy," she maintained, her voice clearly strained as she struggled with the box.

Nick simply shook his head before beginning to walk down the hallway. "Follow me," he instructed, gesturing for her to follow his lead.

"I can find it by myself, you know," Sara insisted, as she caught up with him.

Nick continued on regardless, guiding his friend through his house, pointing out what Sara concluded to be his room. He came to a stop outside a closed door opposite to the bathroom.

"Tah dah," Nick swung open the door and presented his guest room to her.

He'd had a bit of time to tidy it out before she'd come round. And he'd needed it. Who knew he owned so much junk? So thanks to Sara staying with him, Nick had been able to do a spot of spring cleaning. But as he worked through the boxes and piles of stuff he came across some much loved valuables that he'd almost forgotten about. The sole reason he bought a two bedroom house was to have a spare room for when any member of his large family wanted to visit, or just pitch up unannounced. And over the years it had been used, with his parents visiting occasionally and that one time when one of his nieces ran away from home and stayed for a few days, but generally his spare room had been used for storage. He'd even come across a box that he'd not unpacked since he left Dallas. He found old photos of him in high school and college, found a few of the sporting trophies he'd won as a kid that his mother had reluctantly let him take. Nick was able to reduce his junk to only a few boxes, throwing away things that had no sentimental value, meaning he could justify keeping an old raggedy baseball glove. He was quickly able to put clean covers on the bed and everything was in place for her arrival.

"Not too small?" Nick raised an eyebrow, scrunching up his face slightly.

"It's perfect," Sara smiled.

"I'm glad it meets your approval," he smiled back.

Sara stepped further into the room, instantly putting the box down on the dresser the first opportunity she got. "This'll do nicely," she pursed her lips slightly.

"How about I let you settle in a bit while I go buy us some breakfast?" Nick suggested.

"Are you sure? You really don't have to go to any trouble just for me," Sara insisted.

"I don't need to get you anything then, if you'd prefer...," he replied, his lips twitching into a slight smile.

"I'll have my usual then please," she stated. "I'll have to get cash out later to pay you back."

"Forget about it," Nick shrugged. "You can pay next time."

"Deal."

Nick swiftly gathered up his cell phone, wallet and car keys before heading for the diner. When he got into his car he couldn't help but smile to himself. What was she like? But that was Sara for you, right there in a nutshell. She had this awful habit of doubting herself, but only ever on a personal capacity. When it came to work, Sara was practically overflowing with confidence and self belief. He could only hope that one day even just a tiny bit of that confidence she had at work could spill over into her private life. But he was glad she seemed to be settling in. And relieved that she'd seemed to accept that she was welcome in his home for as long as necessary. Nick wouldn't have had it any other way. She really was one of a kind, and he just knew that it was merely a matter of time till she relaxed and let her hair down a bit and he'd get to see the real Sara for who she really was. Though he thought the Sara that he already knew was pretty amazing. They'd always had a laugh and got on since they first met so Nick was looking forward to spending more time with her and no doubt having endless debates on the most insignificant of things. And if he were being totally honest with himself, Nick was actually looking forward to every minute of it.

Meanwhile, Sara set about making herself at home. She lifted her suitcase onto the bed and began organising her clothes into the different drawers. The process of unpacking made the whole thing all the more real. She smiled to herself as she folded up her last few t-shirts and packed them away in the drawer, and found herself genuinely looking forward to what lay ahead of her in the coming weeks.

She sat herself down on what was to be her bed for a while and found it to be softer than she expected. She found herself wondering how much the bed had been used over the years, and could not control the embarrassed smile that took over her face as the thought entered her head that it probably hadn't been used nearly as much as Nick's had. Sara quickly shook off that thought, though the smile remained for a little longer.

Her mind wondered and before she knew it she could hear Nick's car pull up in the driveway.

"Hey," Sara called out as Nick walked through the door.

"Come get it before it gets cold," he yelled back.

Sara did as was instructed of her and made her way down the hallway to the kitchen where Nick had already laid out two plates and was in the process of collecting two glasses from the cupboard. Sara took it upon herself to unload the bag full of food, placing the parcels of food on separate plates.

"So, did I tell you I managed to speak to my landlord before I left?" she began, thinking back over the day as Nick made a detour to his fridge.

"I don't think you did," he replied, pouring himself and his new temporary houseguest a glass of orange juice each to accompany their breakfasts.

"Well, let's just say I wasn't the only one there wanting answers," she stated with a raised brow as she unwrapped the food. "He said the work should be done in just over two weeks, but that's only if things go to plan. Which, knowing my luck, it probably won't. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"Well, you know you are always welcome here for as long as necessary," Nick replied with a smile, catching her eye as he moved towards her again.

Sara handed him over his plate before swiftly fishing out a knife and fork from the cutlery drawer. "I know that but that's not the point. What if I didn't have you or anyone else to take me in, or what if you didn't have a spare room, or that these couple of weeks coincided with your parents visiting or something? What if it just wasn't convenient for you or anyone else for whatever reason and my only option would be to stay in a hotel? It's just not good enough."

"But you do, you have somewhere to stay, so stop thinking about it," Nick insisted.

"But...," Sara started.

"But nothing," Nick interrupted. "Let's start eating before it gets cold."

Sara let out a small irritated sigh as she followed him into his living room. They sat down almost side by side on his sofa and began tucking into their hearty breakfasts.

They sat and ate in near silence, only the sound of the clock ticking in the background echoing round the room. Nick subtly watched Sara eat, but gradually begin to shift the food round her plate with her fork.

"You not hungry anymore?" Nick spoke in between mouthfuls, knowing that she was thinking too much again, casting her a sympathetic glance.

Sara simply shrugged her shoulders, only briefly looking up but otherwise keeping her eyes fixed on her plate.

He looked at her for a few seconds more, "Whatever you're thinking about, just stop it. It's not doing you any good."

Sara looked up and scrunched her face slightly, looking almost embarrassed to have been caught out.

"I mean it," he insisted, a smile threatening to surface.

Sara let out a slow breath, her eyes focused on her plate as she spoke. "I just... I just feel that all I've done since I've been here is moan and complain," she shrugged.

"That's not all you've done, you've unpacked too," Nick smirked.

"Not helping," she narrowed her eyes at him briefly.

"I guess I should let you off, really," Nick teased, a smile playing on his lips. "I'm sure you're not the only one who would be pissed off at being kicked out of their home until further notice."

"But I just feel like I'm not being very appreciative of you," Sara admitted. "But I do appreciate it, you letting me stay with you."

"It's just gonna be a bit of an adjustment for us for the next couple of days, that's all," Nick stated. "But you'll be home soon enough."

"It's just... Urgh... I really hate this," Sara exclaimed exasperatedly.

Nick could only purse his lips to stop himself from smiling.

"I should really be over it by now, huh?" Sara looked away, dropping her head into her hands.

"Not at all," Nick replied.

Sara looked thoughtful. "I don't know... I guess I don't like that it was just forced on me then and there, you know? I like to plan ahead. I'm not a big fan of spontaneity."

"Spontaneity can be fun, you've just gotta give it a try."

"How did I know you would say something like that?" she questioned rhetorically.

"Because you know I'm right," Nick replied, grinning.

Sara sighed, resting her head in her hand.

"Which is it you hate more? Being kicked out your house or needing someone else's help for a change?" Nick arched an eyebrow, not entirely sure how she would react.

Sara smiled, embarrassed. She shrugged slightly, rubbing her arm through nervousness, feeling rather self conscious. "Y-You know me, I don't want to admit I need any help."

"I'm quite aware of that. But needing help isn't always a sign of weakness, especially when the problem is out of your control," Nick stated. "It's alright to ask for help."

Sara smiled shyly, looking away to hide her embarrassment. "Maybe one day I'll listen."

"Oh, I doubt that," Nick replied. "You wouldn't be you if you didn't know your own mind."

Sara smiled shyly again, her cheeks turning a light shade of red. He always seemed to have that sort of effect on her. He was always able to put a positive spin on things and make everything seem better. She envied him for that.

"And it's not too torturous for you to have to stay here for couple of weeks, is it?"

"Not at all," Sara quickly shook her head.

"So what's the problem then?" Nick smiled playfully.

Sara laughed lightly. "Seriously though, if you want me to go, then I'll go."

"Would you just stop it already," he exclaimed. "You're staying with me and that's the end of it."

"But I'd hate to cramp your style, Nick, stop you taking some lucky redhead home," she teased, feeling herself blush slightly as she diverted the subject matter over to him.

Nick pursed his lips. "We'll just go to her place," he retorted, not missing a beat.

"Got an answer for everything, don't you?"

Nick winked his reply.

Sara looked thoroughly embarrassed as she cleared her throat. "So... Uh... We're good?"

"We're great," he smiled in return. "We're gonna have a great time, just you and me hanging out, having fun. What's not to like about that?"

"Why do you put up with me?" Sara asked, leaning her head back on against the sofa.

"I often ask myself the same thing," he retorted.

Sara pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes briefly.

"That's what friends do," Nick maintained, smiling

"Remember though, kick me out if..."

"Yes, yes, I know. Kick you out if you're becoming unbearable," he interrupted. "Shall I show you to the door now?"

Sara threw the hands in the air. "That's me; I'm done. I've got it outta my system."

Nick grinned, chuckling gently.

"Seriously though, thank you. You really didn't need to do any of this, so thank you."

Nick shrugged modestly. "You'd do the same for me."

Nick's suspicions had been right all along. She had been spending way too much time finding everything negative about the situation, but what good would it do? To sit and fester about it till her apartment building was termite free wouldn't help either. She needed to put it to the back of her mind now and move on, move forward. You never know, this could turn into a blessing in disguise.

"So, how do you want to spend our first afternoon together as roommates?"

"We could go to bed?" Sara suggested, before quickly backtracking. "Separately, of course."

Nick quickly pursed his lips. "Of course."

Sara looked away, clearly trying to hide her embarrassment. But Nick wasn't at all fazed by the situation, and found her reaction quite endearing.

"So you don't want to watch a movie?" he wondered, just about managing to subdue a smile.

"Yes, let's do that," Sara nodded insistently.

Sara took it upon herself to search through Nick's extensive movie collection and find the perfect film for them to watch, something a bit uplifting and light-hearted. She, Warrick and Greg had been round a few times for 'designated movie nights' but she wasn't quite aware of how vast his stash was.

"Disney's Hercules, really?"

"It's my nieces' favourite," he insisted defensively. "She honestly had me watch the thing six times in one day. I'm surprised it still plays."

"Whatever you say, Nicky," she smirked. "Whatever you say."

"You know, I think I liked you better when you were a bit vulnerable and insecure," Nick shot back, almost sulkily.

Sara shook her head and continued looking along the rows of DVDs. "Seriously - you have Hercules but not Back To The Future?"

"Which one's your favourite?" Nick wondered

"Gotta be the first one, hands down."

"Well then, you're in luck...," he announced, before stepping out the room briefly.

Nick was back in a couple of seconds with a DVD box set in his hands. "I haven't found where to put it yet, but here they are. You wanna watch?"

"Sure," Sara nodded.

Nick opened up the DVD box and took out their chosen film, moving towards his TV.

"You know, this really is a nice place you've got here, Nicky," Sara stated honestly, looking round the living room as she settled herself down on the sofa.

"I've tried my best," he called over his shoulder as he closed the DVD player.

He straightened himself up as the movie loaded.

"I mean, I've been living here... What? Since I first moved to Vegas?" he thought aloud. "It's mad really. It's just bricks and water, but you can't help but get attached, can you?"

"Tell me about it," Sara rolled her eyes. "It's only small, but my apartment is the only thing here that's mine, besides work."

"Hate to sound like Dorothy, but there's no place like home," Nick smiled coyly.

Sara gave a small smile in return, sighing as she did so.

"You'll be back in yours in no time," Nick reassured her.

"I know, it's just frustrating," she shrugged, trying her best to brush it off.

Nick sat himself down beside her having left their plates on the counter and collected the bag of popcorn from his kitchen. The movie trailers began as they made themselves comfortable.

"You know, everything will come good in the end," he insisted, fishing out a handful of popcorn from the bag.

"I hope so," she nodded, looking up for a second to meet his gaze and exchange smiles.

Sara fell asleep after the first fifteen minutes of the movie, leaning against Nick's shoulder as she snored gently, much to his amusement.

Thank you for reading. More to come soon. Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Sorry it's been a few weeks since this was updated, I had a cold and then suffered with writers block. But I think I've got this chapter just about how I wanted it. Enjoy.

Chapter 3

The shift was only half way through but Nick was already wishing it was finished, willing time to tick faster. His night had gone from being fairly average to being unthinkingly awful in the blink of an eye. And he never ever wanted to do something like that ever again.

He stared mindfully into his coffee mug, still seeing that woman's face after he'd had to tell her the worst possible news a parent could ever wish to hear. He was minding his own business near the back of the room, vaguely aware of the rest of his colleagues talking amongst themselves. Whilst everybody else sat discussing their cases and possible theories, Sara spotted Nick out the corner of her eye, looking bewildered and lost.

"You okay?" she asked, walking towards him.

"Great," he forced a smile. He'd been unusually quiet, having entered the room and choosing to slip into the background. Not only that, but he seemed to be distracted. "Just thinking about my case."

Sara smiled slightly, not totally convinced by what he was saying. Nick went on to make Sara a cup of coffee, which she gratefully accepted.

"I was thinking that after work we could maybe watch a movie? I could rent something different if you want?" Nick offered, looking down into the dark swirling coffee again.

"That sounds good," Sara nodded.

Their eyes met briefly and together they moved closer to the others, trying to include themselves in the conversation.

"So how's it going? Living together, I mean?" Greg asked, facing Sara as she walked over to him.

"They're both still alive so I'd say pretty good," Warrick joked, a smirk emerging on his face.

"It's going okay, more than okay," Nick smiled, casting a glance over to Sara.

"You know, I heard that you two were living together but I figured it was just lab gossip," Catherine joined in.

"It's only temporary," Sara insisted. "It's only till my apartment building is termite free."

"Next thing you two will be buying a puppy together," Catherine teased.

"Has she started to rearrange everything yet? That's when you know she's staying," Warrick added, smirking.

"What part of temporary do none of you understand?" Sara asked sarcastically.

"It was very nice of you to offer your services though, Nick," Catherine smiled coyly.

"I'd do the same for all of you."

"Sure you would," Warrick muttered under his breath.

"It's really not that big a deal," Sara gestured, her arms outstretched as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, because you just move in with all your colleagues," Greg arched an eyebrow.

"Well, he's the only one that offered so the rest of you can shut up," Sara insisted, only half joking.

"Well you can come and stay with me if you want, if you don't mind having heavy metal music blasting through the house," Catherine offered, and was greeted with curious looks. "What? Lindsay's going through a phase."

"Thanks, Cath, but I'm alright where I am," Sara replied, shooting a smile at Nick.

"I bet you are," she mumbled under her breath, causing Sara to shoot her a narrow stare.

"And no funny business now," Warrick warned, directing a strern look at Nick.

"As if I would even consider such a thing," he feigned innocence, giving Sara a cheeky wink. "I am the perfect gentleman."

"Thanks, Rick, but I can handle myself," Sara spoke up, smiling.

"Oh I know you can, I just thought I'd save him the embarrassment of being beaten up by a girl," Warrick smirked.

Nick pursed his lips, not wanting to give his friend the satisfaction of seeing him smile.

"Aw, come on. We're only messing around," Greg insisted, still smiling. "You know as well as the rest of us that you two wouldn't be able to help yourself if the tables were turned."

"We're just two friends living together for a little while; what's the big deal?" Nick exclaimed. "It's really not the end of the world."

"Maybe I'll move in then when she moves out," Greg added, smirking.

"Well maybe I'll move out with her," Nick countered.

"And here you all are," Grissom stated as he appeared in the doorway.

"Yes, yes, we know," Catherine exclaimed as she rose to her feet. "We're going."

"Did you see that? I said that without even opening my mouth," Grissom retorted.

Several hours later, Nick was softly humming to himself the last song that had been playing on the radio as he walked through his front door, haphazardly tossing his wallet and keys on the small unit next to the door. He went on to take off his jacket, removing the DVD he'd rented on his way home from the inside pocket.

So far Sara had been living with him for the grand total of 2 days. Their first afternoon together had been quite uneventful but enjoyable nonetheless. It was polite and easygoing, all laughs and smiles, not forced or strained.

And so far they hadn't had any arguments, they were still speaking to each other and she hadn't started taking her frustrations out on him, which quite frankly was an improvement on their working relationship at times. Though, that made it sound like they were constantly at loggerheads with each other which wasn't ever the case. Yes, they had disagreements when it came to work, but Nick considered that to be healthy; they couldn't agree with each other about everything all of the time. But they would always manage to make up again soon afterwards. Sara could be very stubborn and singleminded at times, and Nick could be equally so on occasions, so neither were willing to back down or at any stage admit defeat. That made it all the more special really, that in a way their friendship meant more to them than their pride, so they'd suck it up and go out for breakfast to settle their differences. And whilst Nick did have the tendency to well and truly lose his rag at times, properly dig his heels in and refuse to back down, he had never really been any good at staying mad at anyone for a particularly long time, especially not Sara. He admired her for her stubbornness and strong-willed nature, finding it to be more of an endearing quality than a bad habit. Sara always knew her own mind and wouldn't let anyone else bully her into thinking something different, and even if on the odd occasion her thought process was wrong she stood her ground, and Nick liked that a lot. He smiled shyly at the thought.

So they were off to the best of starts. She'd seemed to sleep well and Nick let her shower first so he could make them something to eat. He was pleased that she was making herself at home. Nick was sure it would stay that way, as there wasn't any added pressure coming from him or coming from them being in a romantic relationship or anything. They were going to have a great time, he could feel it in his bones. He couldn't help but feel a little bit glad that her apartment building needed fumigated. For as bad as that made him feel, he couldn't help it. He was enjoying some company for a change. Sometimes you just don't realise how lonely you are until you have someone else there to fill that usually empty void.

The weirdest part was driving to work together, as it made sense as they were travelling from the exact same place. They agreed to alternate cars and drivers for the next two weeks that she was staying with him, meaning neither was the chauffeur for the other. Then came work again, and it was an evening Nick hoped to soon forget. He'd tried his best to push aside all negative thoughts and focus solely on his movie morning with Sara. But that hadn't been so easy. He could still see that women's face as he sat himself down on the sofa and switched on the TV.

His mind must have wondered because the next thing he heard was Sara pulling up into his driveway. She'd said she would be right behind him and that had been over an hour ago, so it was about time she turned up. He rose to his feet and made his way to the door before Sara.

"Glad you finally decided to join me," Nick smirked as he opened the door.

"Ha ha," Sara mocked a laugh and strode past him and into his home.

"Oh, come on in why don't you?" Nick said sarcastically.

"Oh, well I shall come in, thank you, Nicky," she smiled. "You are indeed a gentleman."

"That I am," he winked and closed the door behind her.

"So what movie have you chosen?" she asked. "Not a horror, I hope."

"Nope, nothing like that," Nick commented. "Have a look for yourself, it's on the side in the kitchen."

Sara followed Nick's directions and sure enough found a DVD box lying on the worktop in the kitchen. She eyed it momentarily before nodding a approval.

"Nice choice, Nick," Sara smiled. "Mission Impossible."

"Glad you think so."

"Have you seen it recently?" she asked.

"Nope, it's been a while," he replied.

"Me too," Sara smiled. "Haven't seen it in years, but it's always a good watch."

"Let's hope so," Nick agreed. "Right, so while I get the popcorn and drinks sorted, your mission, should you choose to except it, is to pop it in the machine and press play. If you can handle it?"

"I've handled worse," she smirked and set about doing her instructed task.

Nick winked and got the popcorn out the cupboard, found a bowl and emptied the bag into it. He then proceeded to do the mindless task of collecting a few cold beers from the fridge. The lack of challenging tasks didn't help take his mind off his horrible evening at work.

"Nick?" Sara called quite firmly.

"Huh? What?" Nick blinked, visibly confused.

"I called you're name like three times; you okay?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah, sorry," Nick smiled sheepishly. "I was miles away,"

"Anywhere nice?" Sara wondered, a smile tugging at her lips.

Nick laughed self consciously. "I wish."

Sara smiled slightly, though her eyes screamed sympathy for her colleague. She had this niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right with him.

"Best crack on with this...," Nick said, looking somewhat weary.

Sara cast him a curious glance, not totally believing what he was saying. That was the second time that day that she'd interrupted him daydreaming. That wasn't like him. She figured he could easily be tired, thinking it had been a couple of weeks since he last had a night off. But it seemed more than just lack of sleep occupying his mind.

"You can't get your mind off that case, can you?" Sara asked, seeing through his facade.

Nick could only smile sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck through awkwardness and embarrassment. He thought he'd been more subtle than that.

"It's alright, you can tell me," Sara insisted softly. "I get it, remember."

"It's nothing, really," Nick tried to just shrug it off, feign innocence.

"Really?" Sara raised her eyebrows, obviously not believing him.

"It's got nothing to do with you," he insisted, more sternly that he had perhaps intended. He could feel his defences building and didn't need her giving him the third degree.

"Fine," Sara folded her arms over her chest. "Don't talk, makes no difference to me."

Nick shook his head at her, clenching his jaw in frustration. "God, you can be so irritating, do you know that?" he exclaimed exasperatedly.

"It's one of my more endearing qualities," she smiled sweetly.

Nick couldn't help the gentle laugh that broke through his serious looking persona.

"If you don't wanna talk, that's okay, I don't want to force you. I was just trying to help," Sara insisted softly. "It's just that whatever this is, it's eating you up."

Nick let out a small sigh, rubbing his forehead with his hand. Now he felt really bad. She was only ever trying to be a friend whilst he was just being the total opposite.

"I think... I think today was the first time I've had to tell a mother that her child was dead...," he admitted quietly. "No, I know it was. I don't think I'm ever gonna forget the look on her face."

"What happened?" Sara pressed lightly.

"She... She just kept asking... She wouldn't wait for the doctor or for Brass so I had to tell her that her daughter was dead," Nick stated nonchalantly. "It was awful."

Sara placed her hand down on top of his lower arm, offering him some comfort as he continued to relay the day's events.

"He was a known child sex offender, known to us and the neighbourhood. He was supposedly going through treatment and seeking counselling for his problem but something must have changed. The paramedics thought they could feel the faintest of pulses but she was dead by the time they made it to the hospital. She was rushed inside for the doctors to start CPR but it was too late," Nick explained, staring straight ahead of him. "She was only 8. She had her whole life in front of her but that monster took it away from her. And I had to tell her mother she wasn't going to watch her daughter grow up."

Sara sighed, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry, Nick."

Nick nodded, staying quiet for a few moments. "Have you ever had to do it?" he questioned, fidgeting as he spoke.

"No, I haven't, but I can imagine it sucks," Sara replied.

"It does," he nodded, a blank expression on his face. "It does."

Sara met his woeful glance, and felt her heart break a tiny bit because she knew that there was nothing she could really do to help him.

"Urgh," he exclaimed. "It's just been one of those days where you wish you hadn't got out of bed, you know?"

"Anything I can do to help?" Sara wondered, already knowing the answer.

Nick shook his head. "I don't think so. But thanks for offering."

Sara smiled softly, her eyes still conveying her sympathy.

"I'll get over it, you know... It's just...," Nick shrugged, struggling to find the words to express how he felt.

"I know," Sara nodded, completely understanding. "This job always seems to have a way of breaking your heart, one way or another."

"I just... I don't know if I did enough, you know? I don't know if I ever do enough. I just..."

"Look, as long as at the end of the day you come home and look yourself in the mirror and you can say that you did your best and gave your all then that's all that you can ask of yourself," Sara insisted, softly.

"No, I know. I know you're right," he nodded. "Doesn't make it easy though."

"Life would be boring if it was easy," Sara stated glumly.

"But It's nice to be able to come home and talk about it with someone," he stated, looking down. "You get it, you get what it's like, and... and not many people do."

"You can always talk to me, Nick, always. You know that right?" Sara gave him a look of concern.

"Of course I know that," he replied quickly. "I just mean that these are exceptional circumstances and we should make the most out of them."

"You're right, we should," Sara smiled.

"So I shouldn't be sitting here mopping around," he continued.

"You've had a bad day, you shouldn't feel guilty about that," Sara insisted.

"Yeah...," Nick sighed. "Tomorrow can only be better, right?"

"Right," Sara gave a nod.

He sighed and gazed off into space again.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Aha," Nick nodded, looking emotional. "But would you mind if I just went to bed?"

"No, not at all. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking guilty about it.

"Hey, this is your house, you do whatever you want. I know where everything is so I'll be fine," Sara insisted. "Just go get some rest."

"I'm sorry about the film," Nick smiled slightly, seeming sort of embarrassed.

"Forget about it. When you've seen it, you've seen it," she shrugged it off. "They're all the same really; they always get the bad guy in the end."

"Now you're just being cynical," Nick smiled softly.

"Just go get some sleep already, you look like you need it."

Nick gave her a look. "Wow, you say the nicest things."

"Just go," she hurried him.

It had been a bit of an emotional roller coaster kind of day for him, so maybe all he really needed was a good few hours of sleep and he'd be right as rain again.

Sara woke several hours later to the sound of the shower running. It was only when she pushed herself up that she realised she'd fallen asleep on the sofa. She remembered flicking through the TV channels, trying to find something decent to watch before settling on some documentary about the Vietnam War. She must have laid down at some point and drifted off to sleep.

The sound of water stopped as she yawned and stretched. Nick's sofa was no softer than hers, she reasoned as she tried to get the knots out of the muscles in her neck.

Minutes later she raised her eyebrows as she clapped eyes on Nick, walking down the hall half naked and dripping wet, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

Nick quickly ground to a halt in the doorway when he saw her. Was it bad that for a moment he forget she was staying with him? "Good afternoon...," he breathed, trying to act natural.

"And it just got a whole lot better," Sara smirked, eyeing his well defined muscles.

Nick could only clear his throat as a pink hue began to take over his face.

"I'm just glad your towel didn't fall down," she added, teasing him again as she pursed her lips.

"I'm just gonna go...," Nick gestured behind him in the direction he'd just come from, visibly embarrassed.

"You do that," Sara smirked knowingly.

Nick turned around and disappeared just as quickly as he'd appeared.

"You know, I think I might enjoy staying here after all," Sara called out, grinning cheekily.

Thank you for reading. Just a little bit of something extra at the end there. More to come from me soon, I promise. Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

Chapter 4

A/N: this is another late update. But hopefully I can get back to regular weekly updates now that I've worked out a proper plan of where I want this story to go. I think this is another really long one, but I couldn't help it. Hope this was worth the wait.

One by one they filed into the layout room, each individually hoping that they were actually starting to get somewhere. They were met by Grissom, seemingly more irritable than usual and visibly stressed out, rubbing his forehead to try and refocus his mind. It had just been one of those days when you've been trying to do so much all at once but in reality do very little at all. It was like trying to walk head on in a wind tunnel; they just weren't getting anywhere fast. In fact, to Sara it felt more like they were in reverse. Everything they thought they knew was being either disproved or completely scrapped, the evidence wasn't producing any concrete leads and they were already well into working a double shift. The one piece of evidence that they were confident could potentially pull up some hits or at the very least lead to the eventual conviction of the killer was a single .22mm bullet taken from the most recent victims' rib cage, the only intact bullet that could potentially prove in anyway useful. But unfortunately for the nightshift team, there had been an officer involved shooting just as they were gearing up for their second consecutive shift to begin, so poor Bobby was up to his eyeballs in bullets and shell casings and was working doubly quick to even attempt to keep up.

It had been such a simple enough scene. Sara knew now that that was both optimism and naivety. Nothing about it had seemed in anyway more usual to any other murder scene they'd investigated that week. Sara and Greg had pulled the short straw and were left working what seemed to be the more boring of the reported cases, with Greg even joking that the pair of them would be back keeping their seats warm within a matter of hours. How wrong he was. They arrived at a hotel just off the strip, without too many flashing lights or neon signs it seemed, from the outside anyway, to be a rather respectful establishment. Inside they were met with the grim scene of a double homicide, more bloody than usual. Still with all the extra blood splatter, it didn't seem to present any obvious signs that would indicate it would take a huge amount of time to process. Though that soon turned out to be pretty insignificant. Within a space of just two hours the perpetrator had struck again not once or even twice but three times, each at different hotels, on different floors and completely random room numbers. It wasn't long until the whole team were shafted in to tackle this spree killer. In the time span of the first shift some ten people had been killed, and several others injured.

"Right, where are we with this?" Grissom asked to no one in particular as he removed his glasses and began cleaning then with a cloth from his pocket.

"Great question," Catherine nodded, her sarcasm being picked up by the only person in the room that outranked her.

"Well, ballistics is still pending," Warrick stated what they all knew to be true. "But Greg's following a lead as we speak. You never know, we might get lucky."

"Nothing back from trace?" Grissom wondered, sliding his glasses back down the bridge of his nose.

"Not yet," Nick shook his head. "It was a long shot anyway."

"DNA didn't give us anything new to go on and Al is too swamped down in the morgue to even keep up with preliminary reports," Warrick announced. "He can only confirm what we know to be true: all the victims were shot with the same caliber of gun and died within hours of each other."

Grissom nodded slightly in acknowledgment. "What about the victims themselves? Do we know if they have any connection to one another?"

"Well, we were finally able to identify the fourth victim. His name is Harry Canning, he was 33 and originally from Kansas. I was able to identify him from his army service record; he did two tours in Iraq and was discharged on medical grounds. He was receiving treatment for PTSD before he died. And the woman he was with, Ellen Carter, she was his psychologist," Sara smiled proudly as she spoke.

"Oooh, well that explains the false name," Warrick concluded.

"I'd say so. But as far as any connections between the victims, aside from the obvious relationships we already know about, I couldn't find anything that linked any of them," Sara stated with a shrug, glad to have started off with the better news.

"That confirms what we all thought then, it's completely random," Nick spoke up. "This guy doesn't have an end goal that he's working towards, or a list of people he's working his way down, checking them off as he goes. He doesn't care who he hurts, he just wants to cause as much mayhem as possible."

"That's why we have to stop him," Grissom stated.

"But how?" Catherine exclaimed. "There's no evidence to go on. The guy isn't getting close enough to any of his victims to leave behind even a shred of DNA or trace on the bodies, and he picks up the shell casings before he leaves. We can't conjure evidence out of thin air, Gil. We can't just sit here with our fingers crossed hoping that he slips up and finally gives us something to work with. We're just going round in circles, and we know probably just as much about this psycho as we did after the first murder."

The room fell silent. Finally, someone had spoken the words they were all thinking. They couldn't let this guy get away with mass murder but they were seriously struggling to find anything to identify him. He was a ghost. They were beginning to doubt whether they'd actually ever be able to catch this guy, that maybe this'll just be one of those cases that can't be solved. He would be their one that got away.

Just then Greg appeared in the doorway, and never in his life did Nick think he would be hoping that Greg had something amazingly incredible to go on that would crack this whole case wide open.

"Natalie Davis," Greg blurted out.

The room stayed silent, and then slowly, they took it in turn to look at Sara. Her eyes were wide and a flicker of confusion flashed across her face as she stayed facing the younger CSI, not daring to look round at the eyes she knew were trained on her.

Suddenly, it hit Greg what he'd just said. "Oh God! Not her! No... No, another Natalie Davis. No... Not her, not that one. This one was a witness to the first murder. Sorry, Sara, I didn't mean to..."

"What about her, Greg?" Sara asked quickly, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief.

"Um... She um, she gave a false name to Brass at the scene yesterday. She gave the name Mia Howard but when I tried to look her up in the system there wasn't a Mia Howard matching her description. I got onto the hotel manager and I got her credit card details. And guess what I found? She was at the scenes of the second murder too two, she ordered a large red wine at the bar. It could be a coincidence but I think we should speak to her again, maybe she got a better look at the killer than she thought," Greg explained.

"Nice call, Greggo," Warrick smiled.

"Yes, well done, Greg," Grissom praised. "That was good initiative."

"Thanks," he blushed.

"Divide and conquer?" Grissom questioned, to which he received a collect nod. "Well, Greg, you got this lead so you run with it, and Cath can help you. Nick and Sara - I want you two to go back to the last crime scene, see if there was anything we missed. Warrick, you're with me - we're gonna go talk to Al about some dead bodies."

"Great," Warrick feigned enthusiasm.

"I'm driving," Catherine instructed Greg, to which he gave a nod.

"I'll meet outside in 5," he told her, and practically shooed her out the door.

Nick turned to Sara and gave her the once over. On the surface she seemed to be dealing with Greg's sudden announcement but he didn't think it would be long until the cracks began to show. Only time would tell.

Nick moved towards the door, still deep in thought, with Sara in tow. But she was intercepted by Greg, who stepped out in front of her.

"Sara, you got a second?" Greg asked nervously.

"We really should be getting going, and so should you," Sara insisted, backing away towards the door.

Greg pulled Sara back gently. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for earlier. I should have thought before I spoke. I never wanted to..."

"It's fine, Greg. Don't worry about it," Sara insisted, forcing a smile. "I've already forgotten about it."

"Really? Are you sure?" Greg raised an eyebrow in question. "You sure I can't get you anything or do anything for you?"

"I'm fine," Sara smiled. "Thanks though."

Greg opened his mouth go speak again but the sound of Catherine bellowing his name down the hallway stopped him. He rolled his eyes.

"Go on, before she eats you alive," Sara urged, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'll catch up with you later."

With that Greg began to walk away, with Sara just a few paces behind him, purposely striding her way out the building. (Nick sighed as he watched them walk away.)

Nick climbed into the driver's side of his car a few minutes later, noting how Sara almost never let him drive, even his own car. And as if to prove his point further, as Nick buckled himself in Sara was away with the fairies. She was nibbling on her nails, something she very rarely did, a sure sign that things weren't as good with her as she'd made out.

"Already forgotten it, huh?" Nick raised an eyebrow.

Sara turned to look at him, looking somewhat embarrassed as she avoided eye contact with him. "Yeah... Okay, so I might have told a little white lie," she shrugged. "I just didn't want him, or anyone else, fussing about it."

"It's okay, you know," Nick insisted, his voice soft. "No one is asking you to be all tough and brave about it."

"Am I really that transparent?"

"To me you are, yes," Nick nodded, smiling slightly.

"It's just not a name I expected to hear today," Sara stated, clearing her throat through nervousness.

"If, um, if you want to talk...," Nick offered.

"I'm good," Sara forced a smile. "Thank you though."

"The offer's always there," he added, as started the engine.

It had been just short a week since Sara had temporarily moved in with her colleague. She nagged him for over a day until he finally caved and requested a day off work, after that more stressful experience of telling a women her child was dead. He returned the next night almost a different man, refreshed and rejuvenated. It was good for them all to see. But that morning when Sara got back to his place, tiptoeing through the house so that she didn't disturb him, she just about hit the roof when he started asking question after question about the shift. She could only smile at him, knowing she would have done the same. She persistently asked and he persistently told her that he was fine, until she finally believed him.

The following day Sara cooked them a meal, much to Nick's amusement. She was kinda like a bull in a china shop when it came to cooking, but she just about scrapped through, and neither of them suffered from food poisoning in the days that followed. The week had seemed to just fly by, maybe too quickly for Nick's liking. He couldn't deny that he was enjoying the company. He wondered if he may have even been getting more out of her staying with him than she was. They watched a few more movies, even fitting in a cheeky rom-com, which Nick found out were Sara's guilty pleasure. It would have been rude for him to not tease her about it for the duration of the film.

Back at the last crime scene, Nick and Sara stood in the doorway assessing the situation. They didn't really know what it was they were hoping to find but they'd know it when they found it.

Sara spent the rest of the shift looking distant, as if she were on another planet entirely. It didn't go unnoticed by any of the team, but it was silently decided that they should give her some space to get her head round the days events. But sadly they were kept busy as the killer stuck again. But this time a maid cleaning the room next door had seen him, but he caught up with her as she tried to run away. He slashed the young women's throat, catching his index finger in the process. Henry was able to isolate the two different DNA profiles and rushed the sample they believed to be that of their killer through the system. There was no guarantees that the same would even match anyone in the database but it was the best lead that they had had all day. The team paced the hallway, with Grissom hovering around the DNA lab until the computer bleeped signalling a match had been found. To everyone's surprise the face that appeared on the screen was that of Marcus Whitehall, one of the witnesses to the first murder. Greg had spoken to him personally, and he'd seemed very helpful and genuinely concerned over what had happened. At first the question was asked over whether the samples had been in anyway contaminated but Henry was adamant that he'd been careful. The man was already in the system for some minor drug offences, and when they did some digging the pieces began to fit together. It was clear that for whatever reason he was unable to get away at the first scene so made his best effort to blend into the crowd, and it would have worked too had he not made that last fatal mistake. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have his day in court, after being gunned down by the SWAT team that had been drafted in to assist.

After just over 24 hours of working with very few breaks, they could finally go home. Catherine offered to drop off Sara after Nick told her he was off to the gym. Sara gave him an odd look; they'd just pulled a double shift and she for one was ready to hit the sack. But Nick insisted he wouldn't be longer than half an hour or so, so she stopped arguing with him.

She let herself in with the key he'd given her years ago, and got herself a bottle of water out the fridge before settling herself down on the sofa. She was toying with the idea of just going to bed but didn't want to seem rude. But before long her thoughts were taking over, filling her head with the awful events that happened to her at the hands of The Miniature Killer, as well as every possible scenario as to what was keeping Nick from returning home.

Soon after Nick silently walked through the door.

"I was starting to wonder what was taking you so long," Sara spoke up, her voice low and thick with emotion. She sat curled up in the corner of the sofa,

"Sorry, I just lost track of time," he replied, dumping his gym bag by the door.

Sara sighed, fidgeting slightly before speaking again. "I was starting to think you were avoiding me."

"Why would I be avoiding you?" Nick asked instantly.

Sara shrugged, avoiding eye contact with him and instead choosing to stare at the floor. "I thought that maybe it might have had something to do with what happened today at work."

"Why would I be avoiding you because of that?" Nick furrowed his brow.

Sara bit her lip, shrugging again. "I... I've spent the whole day thinking about it again, thinking about her," she admitted. "It's ridiculous, I know it's ridiculous but I can't help it. I can't get her out of my head. I can't get any of it out of my head."

"I figured you had. But for what it's worth, so have I," Nick replied.

"You have?"

"Of course I have. It brought back some bad memories," he stated.

Sara let out a small breath, nodding in understanding. "Of course it will have. I'm sorry, let's not talk about this..."

"No, no. It's fine," Nick quickly jumped in, moving round to sit down beside her. "And I wasn't just talking about me. I've been thinking about how you nearly... Well, you know... You were there."

Sara forced an awkward smile as she nodded slightly, whilst Nick mentally kicked himself for ever considering going down the road.

"Sorry, I...," Nick gulped.

"Forget about it," Sara shrugged. "We could keep going like it all day, keep trying not to say the wrong things."

"You're right," he agreed.

"So we should just shut up about it," Sara stated, defiantly.

"No, Sara, you don't have to do that," Nick insisted softly. "Talk to me."

Sara took a deep breath to try and settle herself down. "You know, I, uh... I keep going over it in my head, reliving it all again," she gulped as she spoke, not able to look him in the eye.

Nick smiled slightly to himself as he listened to her continued.

"I can't stop it, you know," she shrugged self-consciously. "Do you ever think about what happened to you?"

"Yeah, sometimes," he replied honestly. "It's not always on my mind but then sometimes it is, sometimes someone can say something and all the memories come flooding back. It just comes and goes. The dreams do too. It's just one of those things."

"But it shouldn't be," Sara argued. "It shouldn't be one of those things."

"No, it shouldn't. But we can't do anything to change it now," Nick insisted. "It's in the past."

"It's just... as memories go, these aren't the the nicest ones to have," Sara shrugged, forcing a smile, trying to act like it didn't really mean anything to her.

"No, I know that," he agreed. "But it's not like you can forget it, can you?"

"Oh no. I tried and failed," Sara insisted.

"But I don't think you should forget even if you could," Nick stated thoughtfully.

"Why's that?"

"Well it's a part of your story, your history; it makes you who you are. And at the end of the day you're able to tell your story, it's not a nice one but at least you're still here to tell it, other people aren't that lucky," Nick replied with a sigh.

"Are you talking to me or yourself?"

Nick chuckled lightly, ducking his head.

"I can still remember getting the call to say that something had happened to you and it was all hands on deck to find you," Sara spoke up. "That whole night I was trying to remember the last time we'd gone out for breakfast, or the last time I'd even spoke to you, but for the life of me I couldn't. I didn't want there to not be a next time."

Nick shifted in his seat, suddenly very uncomfortable. He couldn't help it, but when it came the subject of him nearly being buried alive his anxiety levels skyrocketed. That was his defence mechanism, and always had been.

"I'm sorry. Look, just forget about it, forget that we even had this conversation. Please, lets just forget about this, put this behind us. We don't ever have to mention it again," Sara insisted, emotionally.

"Sara, you can't do that. You can't just pretend it doesn't matter, act like nothing happened, nobody can. You shouldn't. You can't... You can't just ignore it. You can't keep it all pent up inside, it's not healthy. Let it out, Sara," Nick spoke softly, laying his hand on top of hers.

"You can't fool me, Nick," she told him. "I know that this isn't easy for you to hear."

"Yeah, you're right," he nodded. "It isn't easy. But when is it ever? It isn't easy for you either, or for anyone else that was involved. But sometimes you just have to fight though the pain, like we did when..."

Nick stopped short on finishing his sentence, seeing how hard it was for his friend to keep her tears at bay.

"We don't have to sit here and do emotional autopsies on each other, you know," Sara insisted, sniffling. "I don't really think it'll get us anywhere."

"Probably not," Nick breathed, nodding thoughtfully. "But what I will say is when you've made it through something like we did that I think you can make it through anything."

"Damn right we can," Sara agreed. "They're not gonna get rid of us that easily."

Nick couldn't help but smile. They're eyes met briefly and his smile only grew wider as he saw how much better his friend looked. Before she looked so on edge, like she was waiting for a bomb to go off, but now she was visibly more relaxed, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Have you had anything to eat?" he asked.

"No, but I'll get something later after I've had some sleep," Sara replied. "Which is what I'm gonna go and do now, I think."

"Yeah, me too. It's been a long day... a long, emotional day," Nick sighed.

Sara stood up and stretched her arms above her head. She looked round and shared one last smile with Nick before taking herself off to bed. Nick wasn't far behind her.

Once in bed, Nick soon realised he wasn't going to be sleeping anytime soon. He rolled over on to his back and stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling. He sighed again. It was going to be a long night.

Thank you for reading. Hope this isn't too like the last chapter. More to come soon. Please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: this update took me longer than I thought or expected, but I think I'm happy with the outcome. Enjoy.

Chapter 5

Nick woke to the smell of bacon cooking. It worked like moths to a flame, as Nick rose out of bed resembling almost a zombie as he followed the scent straight to the kitchen.

"Hey," he cleared his throat as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Hey yourself," Sara looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I was just going to bring you this."

"There's no need..."

"It's a thank you for last night, for... for everything really," Sara smiled awkwardly, looking down at the frying pan and gave the slices of bacon a gentle rearrange.

"You really didn't have to...," Nick began to protest.

"I know. But I wanted to," Sara insisted, smiling slightly. "You let me talk it through, say what was going on in my head, and you didn't tell me to shut up or just get over it. You understand exactly what it feels like and how that even after so much time has past it can still hurt. I guess this is just a thank you for being such a good friend."

"Seriously, no thanks needed; I'm always a good friend," Nick smirked, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"Right. Go and sit down and I'll bring it over," Sara instructed him.

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you? You're suppose to a guest in my house," he argued.

"Just sit down," she demanded.

"Yes, ma'am," he saluted mockingly and wandered through to his living room.

Sara smiled as he walked away, checking the bacon wasn't burning before collecting a plate from the cupboard to the right of the stove.

"Here you go, kind sir," Sara smirked sarcastically as she walked into to living room to hand over his plateful of bacon with a side of bread in case he wanted to make himself some sandwiches. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"Coffee would be great, thanks," Nick said with a straight face.

"Would you like that in a cup or poured over your head?" Sara narrowed her eyes at him.

"In a mug would be fine," he retorted.

She smirked before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"You not having anything?" Nick called out, bringing the plate closer to him.

"Any bacon? Not likely," Sara replied from the kitchen. "And I've already had some coffee so I'm good."

"You can't just have coffee for breakfast," Nick argued.

Sara made her way back into the living room, speaking as she walked. "Technically it's lunch," she stated, handing over a bottle of ketchup and a fresh coffee.

Nick looked momentarily studded. "You know I was kidding, right?"

"Just eat your breakfast," she gave him a look.

"I thought it was lunch," Nick shot back.

Sara quickly disappeared again as Nick tucked into his hearty breakfast. His arteries wouldn't thank him, but man, if tasted good. Sara sure knew how to cook some good bacon, for a vegetarian. She came back in with a bowl of cereal, clearly having listened to him and opted to have something more substantial to eat. She sat herself down on the other end of the sofa, and they happily ate in silence.

"Are you sure you can't just move in permanently? I could seriously get used to this, a beautiful woman in my kitchen cooking me bacon; what's not to love about that?" Nick beamed with childlike joy, polishing off the last couple of slices with ease.

"Nice try," she pursed her lips. "But it ain't happening."

"Worth a shot though, right?" Nick grinned.

Sara tried to hold her smile for as long as possible but it was beginning to fade as as she let out a sigh, lowering her eyes to the now empty cereal bowl in her lap.

Nick looked over to her, trying to gauge how she was feeling. But sadly he hadn't yet mastered the art of mind reading.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked her.

"You know, I am," Sara nodded, forcing a smile. "I guess I just needed to get it out of my system, you know? I think maybe it was a long time coming, like it built up over time, so I had to just open the floodgates. What about you?"

"Yeah, I'll bounce back," Nick shrugged, smiling shyly.

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

He wasn't going to admit to her that he'd woken suddenly with a cold sweat, shaking and out of breath, feeling the overwhelming urge to scratch himself silly. Yep, he'd had a nightmare. In all honesty, it had been a while since he'd had one at all, let alone one so vivid, making him feel like he was back in that plastic coffin under the ground all over again. But he wasn't going to complain. Last night his friend needed him, so to hell with the consequences. She needed him to be there for her and listen to her after she'd got the shock of all shocks when Greg said the name of the woman that tried to kill her. God knows how he would have reacted had the names of the people involved with his near death experience had been named in a case. So maybe all the talking had effected him more than he thought, as his latest nightmare proved. It brought back a lot of old thoughts and feelings for him, reminding him that if it hadn't been for the grace of God then he wouldn't still be on this earth. And that was the most terrifying part.

The worst thing was that this Natalie Davis person didn't even have anything to do with the case. She wasn't even a suspect, and she never would have been had she not used a fake name, which she used because she was having an affair, with a woman no less, and didn't want her husband finding out so panicked when the police questioned her. She was just a nobody who just so happened to share her name with the psycho who tried to make Sara her next victim. That had been the hardest part to stomach, that the whole reliving thing could have been avoided. But you can't change the past - if you could, don't you think Nick and Sara would have traveled back in time and saved themselves from a whole lot of hell? - so what use was there in dwelling on it?

But little did he know that Sara had been fighting her own demons last night. She'd tried to sleep but was too unnerved by the prospect of dreaming about what had happened to her that she somehow stayed awake, tossing and turning the night away, counting sheep, pigs and any other farm animal just to pass the time. The next thing she knew she was slowly waking up just before midday. At first she was very confused, only remembering how she'd just lain in bed staring up at the ceiling for what felt like hours. Somewhere along the line she must have fallen asleep. And guess what? No nightmares, not that she could remember anyway.

The pair of them just sat in silence for a moment, awkwardly staring off into space.

Nick turned to look at Sara, smiling somewhat sheepishly. "Do you wanna hug it out?"

Sara smiled back. "Sure."

He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, and she practically melted into him. She leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his body as their breathing synced together. For just a moment she needed comforting, they both did. For just a moment she needed to pretend that they were the only two people left on the planet, and for just one moment, holding onto Nick for dear life, she had nothing to fear.

The following few days passed effortlessly. Nick was right, it did take Sara a little while to get back to her normal self. That night when they went back to work Nick could tell that she was visibly unnerved, standing ridged with baited breath whenever one of the team were to mention a new person of interest in a case, instinctively expecting to hear her colleagues say Natalie Davis again. She knew it wasn't likely to happen, but she couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom. And it continued the following night, much to her annoyance. When the shift ended she was just about at breaking point, later taking it out of Nick's crockery. A mug slipped from her hands and she just about lost it, but didn't know whether to scream or to cry.

But after some severe soul searching, Sara found the answers she'd been looking for. At the end of the day, she'd won; they both had. They survived despite the odds, and in the grand scheme of things they came out relatively unscathed. And Sara would be damned if she was going to let that women win now. It had been touch and go for a minute but she pulled it back and saw herself through it. She would be alright. Because you know what they say; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

She went into work that night with her head held high, ready to get her teeth into a good murder investigation. And she wasn't disappointed.

"He did it all by himself?" Nick asked in disbelief as he unlocked the front door later that day.

"Yep," Sara nodded. "The guy killed 3 people and somehow managed to pull of a robbery in a jewellery store before we tracked him down. He should have gone to the effort of actually burying his last victim and maybe he wouldn't have got caught."

Nick pushed open the door and held it for Sara to go in ahead of him. "At least there's no such thing as a bored day at work for us."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or not," Sara commented, smiling politely as she walked past him.

Nick stepped inside and closed the door behind them, throwing his keys and wallet down on the cabinet next to the door.

"Okay, so before we get too comfy, what do you fancy for breakfast? And don't say nothing because you have to eat something," Nick wondered.

"You could have said something before we got back, you know," Sara gave him a look.

"Do you want something to eat or not?"

"You know, I think I want pancakes," Sara stated thoughtfully.

"Right, then," Nick clapped his hands together and made his way to the kitchen. "I'll see what we've got."

He opened the cupboards to find them practically bare.

"You sure you want pancakes? You don't fancy eggs? We've got eggs. I could make you an omelette," he called from the kitchen.

Nick looked over at Sara who just shrugged. "Whatever's easiest."

"Nah, I'll go get what we need," Nick stated. "What kind do you want?"

"I don't know, surprise me," Sara smiled.

"Try not to miss me too much," he shot back, picking up his wallet and keys again.

As he left, Sara switched on the TV and dropped down on the sofa. She flicked through the channels for a few minutes before deciding that there was nothing on that she had any interest in. She left it on as background noise as she made her way into the kitchen to grab herself a quick glass of water. She found herself leaning against the worktop and staring into her glass as the phone rang, making her jump slightly.

Her initial reaction was to answer it but then she remembered it wasn't her house or her phone to answer. She was pretty sure it wouldn't be Nick calling as he would have called her cell phone if he wanted to get a hold of her. If it was important she figured the person would either leave a message or call back again later so ultimately opted to leave it.

She let out a breath as the phone finally stopped ringing. She sat there for a few more minutes. Willing Nick to come back soon, Sara was practically daydreaming about the pancakes, bursting with chocolate chips and overflowing with syrup. Her stomach rumbled again; what was taking him so long?

Sipping on her icy water, Sara began walking towards the spare room that she was staying in so that she could change into something more comfortable when the phone rang again.

She instantly reached for the phone without even giving it a thought, gently placing her glass of water on the side as she put the receiver to her ear.

"Hello," she answered. It was only as she heard herself speak that she realised what she'd done. Damn it, she cursed herself.

"Oh...," came the voice on the other end of the phone. "You're not Nick."

"No... I'm not...," Sara replied, confused as to what to do.

"I've not got the wrong number have I?" the woman asked. "I'm looking for Nick Stokes."

"No, no, you've got the right number," Sara answered quickly. "But he's just popped out, he shouldn't be long though. Can I take a message?"

"Oh... well, I'm his mum, Gillian," the woman stated, sounding somewhat disheartened. "I'm just trying to get a hold of him, that's all. He never seems to answer my calls anymore. It's not important it's just been a while since we last had a good catch up."

"I see," Sara replied awkwardly. What are you supposed to say to the mother of one of friends whom you've never met before?

A brief silence fell over them and Sara didn't know what to do or say that would get her out of her current situation.

"So have you and Nicky been seeing each other for long?" Gillian spoke up.

"Oh no! No, we're not together," Sara exclaimed. "We're just..."

"Oh, is it one of those no strings attached things, with lots of sex?"

"No! No, I'm just a friend. I'm just a friend from work," Sara maintained, feeling incredibly embarrassed.

"Oh... I just assumed..," Gillian stumbled over her words.

"Yeah, I'm just staying with him for a couple of weeks while my apartment is being fumigated," Sara explained, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks.

"Oh, I see," Gillian nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's fine. I'm just a friend," Sara replied. "I'm just Sara from work."

"Sara? Oh I think Nick may have mentioned you in the past," Gillian commented thoughtfully.

Right on time Nick came through the door with an armful of groceries, heading straight for the kitchen.

"He's just walked through the door, I'll pass you right over to him," Sara stated, breathing a sigh of relief, coving the phone as she called out. "Nick, you're mum's on the phone."

Nick walked through from the kitchen, looking confused. "My mum?"

"I answered it by mistake," Sara replied, looking apologetic. "She wants to talk to you."

Nick sighed. "Better hand it over then."

Sara put the phone to her ear one last time. "Here he is," she told the women on the other end of the phone before passing it over to her friend.

"Hey, mum," Nick spoke, sounding anything less than enthusiastic.

Sara walked through to the living room again as Nick disappeared into his room. She felt like such an idiot. Why did she have to answer the phone? Why? Why couldn't she have just let it go to voicemail? And why did it have to be his mother of all people? And what made her think that she was his girlfriend? Sara didn't think she'd ever been so embarrassed in all of her life, not only was the conversation hard work but... But the biggest question on her mind was why had he mentioned her in the past, and what had be said about her?

"I'm so sorry," Sara stated immediately after he appeared in the doorway. "I didn't mean to answer it, I just did, it was just instinct..."

"It's fine," Nick smiled politely, sitting himself down beside her. "Don't worry about it."

"I really am sorry," she maintained. "Oh, and what must your mum think of me? She must have asked who the crazy lady was who answered the phone."

Nick chuckled. "No, she never said anything like that. She said the exact opposite. She said you seemed nice. Of course she doesn't know you like I do..."

Sara scoffed. "You're not helping."

"Honestly, Sar, it's not the end of the world. I've been meaning to call her back for a while now."

"You didn't speak to her for very long though," she pointed out.

"Yeah, well she's calling me back tomorrow so we can catch up properly," he rolled his eyes.

"She's your mum; she only does it because she cares about you," Sara insisted.

"Yeah, I know that. But does she really have to call me every day?" he asked rhetorically.

"Well, from what I understand you haven't spoken to her in a while."

"In fairness, it has been a couple of weeks. I've not been doing it on purpose. I just end up missing it, either from being in the shower or still in work. Well, maybe I ignored her calls a couple of times because I know what she's gonna say, it's always the same; why don't you visit more? Do you have a girlfriend? Are you looking after yourself?" Nick explained. "There's only so much I can take."

Sara could sympathise with him but he wasn't getting let off the hook that easy. "She's your mother and she cares about you. So tomorrow when she calls you're gonna speak to her, even if I have to hold the phone to your ear. Maybe if you talked to her more often you'd put her mind at ease."

Nick sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. But can we go and make pancakes now? I'm starving."

"Go right ahead," she nodded.

"Oh, no, you're helping me," Nick insisted, gesturing for her to stand.

Sara let out a dramatic sigh and pushed herself off the sofa.

"You know, my mum did seem very upset that you weren't my girlfriend...," Nick teased, smirking playfully as the walked side by side.

Sara eyebrows shot up in both shock and embarrassment.

Nick started laughing.

Sara narrowed her eyes at him and gave him a shove. "Shut up."

He continued to laugh as they entered the kitchen, more than ready to eat something.

Thank you for reading. I hope everyone enjoyed this. More from me soon. Please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: this chapter is more of a filler chapter, more lighthearted, and shorter too. But it was fun to write and I hope you'll enjoy reading it too.

Chapter 6

Several days passed before Nick finally had the time to speak to his mother for more than 5 minutes. In his defence, the night after she called had been crazy, with 5 different suspicious deaths being reported. This meant the night shift were stretched thin, thinner than they could cope with, resulting in a few of the swing shift members taking a case off their hands. Even having one less case to worry about helped to alleviate the stress and pressure that was a natural occurrence for them ever so slightly, but enough to make the difference. A shift and a half later they could all go home, happy in the knowledge that their cases were either solved or pending results to nail the perp dead to rights. The night after was the complete opposite, dull as dishwater. That was the nature of the work they did. But at least Nick was able to call his mum back. Thankfully normality resumed as the night engulfed the city again, with just the right amount of dead people being discovered. In other words, it was business as usual again.

Nick and Sara returned home around mid-morning after stopping for some breakfast.

"Man, I am stuffed," Nick proclaimed. "I don't think I could fit anymore in."

"Well that's your own fault, Mr-One-Breakfast-Isn't-Enough-For-Me," Sara pursed her lips defiantly.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, you didn't pay for it," Nick argued.

Sara flopped down on the sofa. "I'm sure I'll be paying for it at some point," she rolled her eyes.

Nick pulled a face, much like a stroppy child would, behind her back.

"So what do you want to do? Do you want to sleep now or...?" Sara started to suggest.

"Nah, I'm too full to sleep," Nick sat down beside her, rather gingerly. "I'll end up with heartburn if I go to bed now."

Sara pursed her lips, trying her best not to laugh at him. "Okay, so what then? We could watch a movie..."

"We are not watching another flamin' movie," he exclaimed.

"Well what do you want to do then?" Sara asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We could play a game," he suggested.

"What kind of game?" Sara looked confused.

"Like, twenty questions but about each other," Nick tried to explain. "So I could ask you who would be your favourite person to work with and you would say..."

"Greg," she teased, pursing her lips.

Nick smirked. "And you could ask me the same thing and I would say Catherine. See what I mean?"

"I think I get it," she nodded.

"You wanna go first?"

"Sure," she paused for a moment to think up a good starting question.

"Some time today would be nice...," Nick insisted impatiently.

"I'm thinking," she argued, before coming up with the perfect question to ask. "How old were you when you had your first kiss?"

Nick thought for a second or two before answering. "I think I was 14... Yeah, 14."

"Go on," she smiled.

"There's not a lot to tell. I didn't really do anything, it was her who kissed me," Nick stated, almost blushing. "That probably doesn't even count but it does to me."

"I suppose it counts," Sara agreed.

"What about you?" Nick turned to face her more.

"I was 15. He was a foster kid, like me, and a friend of mine told me he had a crush on me. One day he was just staring at me so I got up, went over to him and kissed him square on the lips, then walked away again," Sara answered with a shrug.

"Oh...," Nick nodded, smirking. "So you've always been very forward then?"

"I guess so."

"Right, my turn...," Nick announced, rubbing his hands together as he began thinking of what to ask.

"No, you just asked me a question," Sara insisted.

"No I didn't," he countered. "It was a counter question so it doesn't count."

"Fine, you make the rules," she sighed, holding up her hands in defeat.

"Wow, you back down easy," Nick teased.

"Just shut up and play the game."

Nick grinned rather childishly as he spoke. "Where is the weirdest place you've done it?"

Sara gave him a disapproving look, raising her eyebrows. "Really?"

"What? You can ask me about my first kiss but I can't ask you about the weirdest place you've had sex? That doesn't exactly seem fair," he insisted, feigning innocence as he fought to hold back a smirk.

Sara breathed deeply. "If I answer this then you have to too."

"Fair enough," Nick shrugged, smiling.

Sara cleared her throat, fidgeting nervously. "Um... I'd have to say a classroom."

Nick gave his friend a very weird look, not sure what to think of her latest admission.

"Oh, no, that is all you're getting," Sara insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Spoil sport," Nick huffed.

"So what about you?"

"I'd have to say a barn," he stated, keeping a straight face.

"A literal roll in the hay, huh?" Sara pursed her lips.

"It's not as fun as it sounds."

"Sounds ominous," she commented, clearly hoping for more.

"Oh, no, not gonna happen, don't even try it," Nick shook his head, smiling coyly. "You're not getting anymore out of me."

Sara smirked. "Fine. Maybe we can save those stories for another time then."

"Well, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Nick smirked back, waggling his eyebrows.

Sara cleared her throat. "Well, now that we've got those questions out of the way..."

"What else do you wanna know? How old I was when I lost my virginity? How many different women I've been with?" Nick questioned rhetorically. He was enjoying this far too much.

Sara couldn't control the pink hue that appeared on her cheeks. "I'm not like you, I don't have my mind constantly in the gutter."

"Well come on then, ask away," Nick smirked.

"If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live?" Sara asked thoughtfully, hoping to direct the conversation in an other direction.

Nick let the question sink in before answering. "I don't think I could live anywhere else but here. I'm not big on foreign foods, never have been. But I'd love to visit Africa."

"What? All of it?" Sara teased.

"Yeah, why not?" Nick shrugged. "No, I think I'd like to go to the Sahara desert, do the whole safari thing properly, try and see elephants and rhinos in the wild before they go extinct. And then once I've done that I think I'd like to go to Egypt, to see the pyramids and learn about the culture."

"It sounds like you've got it all figured out," she commented.

"I guess so. I doubt it'll ever happen but what's the harm in dreaming?"

"Why not? We all have to have a dream, something to aim for," Sara insisted.

"So what about you? Where would you go?" Nick asked, turning to face her better.

"Asia," she replied. "The whole continent is packed with history and culture. And I'd love to see a panda. But then I've always been fascinated by South America. And we can't forget Europe."

Nick chuckled. "By the sound of it we could do our own around the world in 80 days."

"I might just have to take you up on that," Sara smiled.

"Okay, so... What is your favourite book?"

"To Kill A Mockingbird, hands down," Sara answered instantly. "One of the best books ever written in my opinion."

"Can't comment, never read it," Nick shrugged.

"What? Never?" Sara couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

Nick shrugged again. "I've never really been into proper novels. I'm more of a facts and figures kinda guy. I normally end up either losing patience or losing interest in the story. I'll just wait for the movie to come out."

Sara scoffed. "It's because of an attitudes like that that people aren't reading as many actual books anymore, it's all e-readers nowadays. Nothing beats reading a book, physically having to turn the pages, folding over the corners of the pages you like."

"Geez, I'm sorry I asked," Nick rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Well you know what I'm like when it's something I'm passionate about," Sara insisted.

"Yes, I know," Nick nodded. That was another of her qualities that he admired, the fact that she always stood up for the things she believed in, no matter what. "It's your turn again."

"Was this always the job you wanted to do? Did you always want to be in law enforcement?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, I always knew I wanted to do something like this. I always wanted to be a cop like in old movies when they'd always swoop in and save the day. I didn't really get into science until I was a teenager, and one of my teachers said I was good at it. And I just sorta put 2 and 2 together," Nick answered.

"Yeah, I watched a programme about a groundbreaking new forensic technique... actually, it was the first time DNA profiling had ever been used to convict a killer, first used in the UK I think, and I was hooked," Sara smiled at the memory. "I'd always been into science, physics mainly, and then I found a way I could use it."

"Thank God you did," Nick smiled. "There would be a lot more bad guys out there if it wasn't for you."

"I could say the same thing about you," she pointed out. "Now it's your go again."

"Um, okay... If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?" Nick wondered.

"I'd have to say Einstein," Sara answered.

"Because that wasn't predictable," he rolled his eyes.

"Well who would you have then?"

"Probably one of the old presidents, like Lincoln or maybe Washington," Nick stated.

"I was expecting John Wayne," she smiled.

"Well, I like to keep you on your toes," he winked.

Sara couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle. They sat in silence for a moment or two before she spoke up again. "Do you believe in fate?"

"Absolutely, a hundred percent," Nick replied without any hesitation.

"Really?" Sara arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I honestly believe that everything happens for a reason, that we're all on our separate paths that we're following, and there's nothing we can do to change the course that we're on," Nick explained, rather philosophically

"You don't think that we make our own luck?"

"Sure, there's an element of that but I think that we as individuals can only change so much," he stated.

"That's kinda scary though," she commented.

"Definitely. But that's all part of it," Nick agreed. "We don't ever know what's coming round the corner, so we should try and let be every day to its fullest."

Sara just raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"I take it you don't believe that?"

"No, but you make a very convincing argument," she replied, smiling.

"So maybe I can get you to see my way of thinking...?" he commented, though it came out as more of a question.

"Maybe," Sara shrugged.

Nick turned to look at her, their eyes meeting. "Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?"

"Ooh, that's good...," Sara looked thoughtful. "I don't know really, I've never really thought about it."

"Well think about it then."

"I guess I'll probably still be here... well, not here, in my own house, but you know what I mean...," Sara stuttered.

"You don't see yourself heading up your own lab somewhere?" Nick questioned.

"Well that's always what we're aiming for, isn't it? But I don't really see myself being the boss of someone, giving people orders," Sara stated.

"Oh, I don't know... You can be very bossy," Nick teased.

Sara gave him a look. "But that's not the same thing. Sure, I boss you, Warrick and Greg around but that's different. I don't think I could ever run a lab, there'd be too much responsibility and paperwork."

"I could see you doing it," Nick maintained.

"Well I think you'd be good at it," Sara countered.

Nick scoffed. "Nah. Like you said, it's too much responsibility. It's one thing to lead at a crime scene but it's another to be in charge of a whole team of people. Plus there's the politics involved. I definitely don't think I could do it."

"What do you think you'll be doing in 5 years then?"

"I'll still be here, I guess, trying to make Vegas a safer place," he shrugged.

"We're both gonna be sticking around for a while then?" Sara questioned rhetorically.

"Well we do make a good team, it'd be a shame to ruin it," Nick stated, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Well you know what they say, all good things must come to an end," she countered.

"But not this," Nick argued. "Not yet."

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N: Hey everyone. It's me again. I'm back to update this story. Yay! I really am sorry for not posting this sooner as parts of this have been written since I last updated this story. But better late than never, eh? I'm also sorry it's so long, but I hope that you'll agree that it isn't unnecessary long. I'm also working on another couple of things over the Summer so hopefully I'll have plenty of time to post till my heart's content. I can't wait. Until then, on with chapter 7...

It had been a week and a half since Sara had begun occupying Nick's spare bedroom. The worst part of this whole thing was that now Sara was just about getting settled into her temporary living arrangements she knew it was only a matter of days till she'd be back in her own home again. A part of her was glad the 2 weeks were nearly over, not because she didn't enjoy Nick's company or that he wasn't welcoming towards her but because she just wanted to be in her own home. There, it didn't matter if she didn't eat breakfast, or that what she ate was a whole bag of toffee popcorn, and it didn't matter if she stayed up all day reading instead of sleeping, and then it was up to her if she chose to walk around her apartment completely naked. She had the freedom to do as she wished, without having someone else breathing down her neck. She was sure Nick would have felt the same. It wasn't that they didn't enjoy spending time with each other but there comes a point when they both needed their space. And she still felt like she was getting in his way. Yet, the other part of her felt that the time had passed far too quickly. She found her conflicting emotions rather confusing. It was natural for her to want to be back in her own apartment again, in her own space, and she was sure it was only natural for there to come a point when Nick wanted her gone too, yet she found herself feeling genuinely sad that her time living with him was nearly up. It was always only temporary, of course, but she never expected to enjoy herself so much. It'd been like a strange kind of holiday, one where you still had to work everyday. She'd never even thought about staying with one of friends when her landlord gave her very little notice to vacate the building for a fortnight, but she was very glad Nick had offered. She really had loved staying with him, and to go back home, back to reality, was a very strange thought indeed.

Sara had let herself in to Nick's apartment roughly half an hour ago. Nick had told her he had some errands to run so to make herself at home. On her way back from work she'd popped in past her apartment building to collect her mail which she was sure was mounting up. She'd wanted to speak to her landlord but he was no where to be found. Sara sat herself down on the sofa, still annoyed at how hard it was proving to track down her landlord, who wasn't answering any of her calls or texts. She'd collected a bottle of water from the fridge instead of opting for coffee. She kinda felt a bit tired but not enough to go to bed, not this soon. Too much sleep wasn't ever a good thing for her. When it came to Sara, she felt that she performed best on little to no sleep so she'd have to try and keep busy, for a few hours at least. So she made her way into the living room to go through her mail to pass the time.

She sat herself down on the sofa and began to flick through the envelopes. "Bill, bill... Ooh, another bill...," she mumbled to herself as she discarded the first few letters. Then there was a letter from some foreign credit card company that she'd never heard of, followed by something to do with some changes being made to her life insurance policy and two identical takeout menus from a Chinese restaurant at the end of the street. Then she came across an envelope that was fairly blank, other than her address on the front and return information on the back. Sara placed the other pieces of mail down on the coffee table and tore open the letter. Unfolding the page, she scanned down it before stopping suddenly midway through. She went back to the top and read it again, being sure to read it word for word, her heart racing. She sighed when she reached the end, letting the page fall on to the coffee table as tears welled in her eyes.

"Stop it," she warned herself, wiping at her eyes. It was hopeless, as tears began to steadily fall down her cheeks.

Half an hour or so later Nick returned home. "Hey, I'm back," he announced, coming through the door.

He made his way into the kitchen carrying a bag of groceries. He lumped it up onto the counter and began to unload it. "I figured we could have pizza tonight, if you want. Then I found this veg feast thing, and I thought it looked good so I figured if it looked good to me that it must look amazing to you..."

It was then that he noticed Sara sitting on the sofa with her back to him, seemingly not paying any attention to him. "Sara?" He asked as he began walking towards her.

The house was eerily silent as he waited for her reply. He was starting to grow concerned but as he made his way into the living room to see if she was okay he found her trying to compose herself.

"Sara, are you alright?" Nick moved round the sofa to face her, instantly seeing her red, puffy eyes. "Oh, Sara, what's wrong?"

Sara sniffled. "Don't... Don't be nice to me, you'll make it worse," she insisted, wiping at her tear stained cheeks.

"What's happened?" he asked, sitting himself down next to her.

"I'm fine, honestly," Sara protested, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down. "Just give me a minute."

"You're not fine," Nick argued, wrapping an arm round her shoulders and pulling her close.

It was everything she could do not to instantly burst into tears again. But she couldn't hold back the waterworks for long, and she was soon softly crying into his chest. After a few minutes she gathered herself together and pushed him away, determined to stop being so ridiculous.

"I'll be fine in a minute," she told him, dabbing at her eyes. "Honestly, just... just give me a minute."

"You don't have to put on a brave face," Nick insisted softly. "You can tell me what's wrong."

"No, no, I'm being... I'm just being stupid. It's nothing," she maintained.

Nick softened his face and the corner of his mouth twitched into a small smile. "I can't help if you won't tell me what's wrong."

Sara sniffed, wiping at her dripping nose and stinging face. "It's really not that exciting."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt any less," Nick stated matter-of-factly, gently caressing the top of her shoulder with his thumb.

She met his gaze for the first time that evening and took a slow breath to compose herself, wiping at the few stray tears that rolled down her cheek. She sniffled again before speaking, "It's my mum... She, uh... She doesn't want to see me..."

"Oh...," Nick nodded, sounding confused.

"See, it's nothing, just normal family drama," she insisted, trying to push him away.

"But it's made you so upset, it can't be nothing," Nick argued.

"It's been a while since I saw her, and... Well, truthfully I'd forgotten all about it. I was suppose to be seeing her next Monday but now...," she just about able to get the words out as she fought to keep a second wave of tears at bay.

"It's okay, Sar," Nick tried to soothe her. "I'm sure you'll be able to rearrange something with her, maybe you can just take some time off and go and surprise her."

Sara shook her head. "You don't understand. You have to book these appointments in advance so they know that you're coming. She's... She's in a hospital..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know she was ill."

"She's not ill, physically anyway," Sara added. "She's in a psychiatric hospital."

"Oh...," Nick nodded.

"Well...," Sara paused for a second, to compose herself, preparing herself for his reaction to what she was about to say next. "Well, I might as well tell you the whole story now," she paused again briefly, taking a breath. "My mum had a breakdown after... after she killed my dad."

Nick fell into a stunned silence. How on earth do you reply to something like that?

"I probably shouldn't have said anything, but there's no going back now," Sara mumbled, her head down.

"You can tell me as much or as little as you want to," Nick spoke softly but sincerely, trying his best to sound as if the new information he'd just learned was somehow an ordinary, everyday occurrence even though they both knew it wasn't.

Sara let out a breath as she rubbed her hands on her face, refusing to make eye contact with the man in front of her. "It's laughable really."

Nick's face fell, his heart breaking for her.

"If I didn't laugh I'd cry," Sara scoffed, wiping at her eyes as tears began to well in her eyes again. "Oh yeah, that's right, I am crying."

Nick stretched across the coffee table to reach the box of tissues, bringing it closer to him and pulling out a couple of tissues for his tearful friend.

She gratefully accepted the tissues and began dabbing at her eyes as she spoke. "It's nothing unique really, the same story we've heard a few hundred times. The only difference is this is my life, my mum and dad. It had always just been the three of us, just muddling along, pretending to everyone else that we were the perfect little family when we were anything less."

Nick nodded, listening intently.

"I... Uh, I don't really know when it started, exactly. I just remember one day hearing lots of shouting, more than usual, then he grabbed her by the arm and held her so tight he left a bruise, and the next thing barely a day would go by when he wouldn't hit her at least once," Sara began explaining. "He got worse when he drank. There'd be times that he'd disappear for a few days and we didn't know if he was coming back, or if he wasn't going to hurt himself or someone else. But he'd always turn up eventually, and just pass out on the sofa."

Nick sat and let the new information sink in. It was hard to hear that something so bad had happened to one of his closest friends, he couldn't even imagine what it felt like to relive it the way she was.

"We became regulars at the hospital, though my mum was very conscious of the fact that people were starting to ask questions so she started making an effort to go to a different one each time. But the doctors and nurses all knew the signs, knew what was going on but my mum would never admit it. I remember this one time that my dad was so angry, I don't know why... I don't know if there was ever really a reason, but he uh...," Sara paused as she thought back. "He, uh, he threw my mum down the stairs. She didn't ever touch the floor until she reached the bottom. But he just walked right past her - didn't even check if she was still alive - and left. Luckily we had nosy neighbours who came round to see what had happened and called for an ambulance. And I just remember the doctor... He wasn't very old, at least he didn't look it... I remember him asking, practically begging actually, if there was something she wanted to tell him, saying that he could help her. But yet again she denied it, and even had me lie for her. Apparently I'd left some toy at the top of the stairs that she'd tripped over, and you could tell that the doctor didn't really believe us but there was nothing he could do. Not long after my dad turned up with a dozen red roses - my mum's favourite flower - and a box of chocolates under his arm, as if that would make everything better. He promised her that he was never going to hurt her again, that he was going to do better, be better."

"That must have been very confusing for you," Nick commented.

Sara nodded. "It was. But he didn't change. We were all stuck in the same vicious cycle, and all the while my mum was putting on a brave face, pretending to the world that everything was fine. She was a very proud woman, still is. She hated the thought that our neighbours were whispering about us behind our back, circulating rumours. I think a lot of them had their suspicions about what was going on but even if any of them would have come out and asked her she always would've denied it," she remembered, clearing her throat before continuing, gripping onto her damp tissue as if her life depended on it. "But then it, it just got too much. One day my dad came home late after being out all day drinking, and he passed out on the sofa. It was just like any other day really. I was upstairs so all I heard was the door slam. Some time later, my mum was in the kitchen, and the police say that she was gonna bring me up a sandwich, cheese and tomato, so she'd taken out the chopping board and a knife but instead... instead she went into the living room and... and stabbed my dad 7 times."

"I'm so sorry, Sara," Nick spoke softly, putting his hand on her knee and gave it a small squeeze of reassurance.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything. It wasn't your fault," she sniffled, wiping at the stray tears that fell as she thought back over what had happened so many years ago. "The thing that always stuck with me was how she just... She just acted like nothing had happened, as she called the police and waited for them to come. And all I was really aware of was the sirens and then a policewoman coming upstairs to take me to the station. I had to walk through the living room but by that point they'd covered up his body, and it was only by the time I got to the station that I really understood what had happened. I was 8 at the time."

"You were 8...," Nick mumbled, shaking his head as he sighed. He had a niece that age and the thought of her going through something like that was beyond comprehendible.

"I suppose it's a good thing that I was so young, because I don't really have a lot of memories about what happened. The odd thing still sticks out, and I don't suppose I'm gonna forget the day he died but as time has gone by I've forgotten more and more," Sara added. "And it was easier to adjust to being in foster care."

Their eyes met and Nick knew she wouldn't like it but he couldn't help the sympathetic look that appeared on his face. "You shouldn't have had to go through that."

"No, I shouldn't, but lots of things shouldn't have happened," Sara sniffled, readjusting herself in her seat before continuing. "My mum was officially diagnosed with schizophrenia, and hospitalised. I, uh, I ended up bouncing around the system a bit because I was kinda in the in between stages. Families seemed to either want a baby or toddler or a troubled teen to fix, and I didn't fit into either of those categories. I lived with a couple of different families before I was 13, whilst trying to keep in touch with my mum. It was hard, and we both spent more time trying to avoid the elephant in the room as I visited her in a psychiatric hospital and she asked me how school was going. After a while she stopped wanting to see me because I reminded her too much of what had happened and that's when I focused on studying and getting into Harvard."

"She must have been very proud," Nick assumed.

Sara nodded. "She was. She said I was the first Sidle to go to college. I don't know if that's true or not but I'm sticking with it."

Nick smiled softly.

"But when I went to college it was hard to just pop home and visit her, you know. I was on the other side of the country and deep in course work which was really important to me so it meant I didn't get to see her a lot. And it didn't change much after I graduated and went back to San Francisco and got a job. I was working so much it was hard to make time to see her, and it's just got worse and worse since I've lived here," Sara continued. "I know that some of it is me, me avoiding her and the whole subject of my childhood. I just want to move on with my life, put this all behind me. But that's hard when you go to see your mum and that's the only thing she can talk about. That's all we really have in common now. The 8 year old girl she knew is all grown up now, but she's... She's still living in that moment, and I just can't anymore."

Nick nodded in understanding.

"I was angry for a long time, but I hadn't really decided who at," Sara explained. "At everyone, everything. It was... It was everybody else's fault. It was the doctors' fault for not doing more, the nurses' for not stopping us leaving, the police for never showing up when we needed them... me, for not telling the truth..."

"It was not your fault," Nick quickly jumped in.

"Oh, I know that. I know that now, but for long time I felt it was my fault somehow. But it was... It was him. I mean, clearly he had his own stuff going on but he... he was taking it out on my mum, which wasn't fair. He...," Sara's voice got caught in her throat momentarily. "He broke her. Well, she probably always had some kind of underlying mental health issue but he wore her down until she had nothing left to give. And then after so long she finally fought back... I hate him for what he did to her, for what he made her do. I hate her for not leaving him when she had the chance, for letting it get to that stage in the first place. I hate her for killing him. He was many things but he was still my dad."

"I can't even begin to imagine...," Nick cut himself off, shaking his head.

"I wouldn't want you too," Sara stated. She breathed deeply to attempt to keep herself settled. "I know that there wasn't the amount of help for woman in that situation as there is now but I still can't help but wonder what would have happened had she left him... For a long time it was just easier to say to people that they were both dead because I lost my mum that day too."

Nick could only close his eyes as she spoke, feeling his heart break yet again for her.

"You know, she's my mum, and I've tried to build some kind of a relationship with her but I don't know who she is. She's just some women I happen to share 50% of my DNA with. Other than that she's a total stranger. And don't even get my started on my dad...," Sara rolled her eyes. "I mean, I don't know... I don't know him, know what he was like. I hardly remember anything about him at all. I want to believe he was a good man that just... that just... I don't know, I don't know what he did... Well, I do, I know he used to beat the crap out of my mum, but I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm never gonna know why. All I've ever really known about him my mum has told me or I've read in his file. I just don't remember him anymore."

"I'm surprised they let you read the file..."

"You're the only one who knows I have," Sara stated. "Back in San Fransisco I was able to sneak down to the archives room one lunchtime and have a quick read of the case file. Most of it I knew anyway, but I'm prett sure I've technically broken the law."

"Well I won't say anything if you won't," Nick quickly replied, smiling as he did so.

"But they were... They were never gonna last, my mum and dad. They were both so stubborn, each of them never backing down, and my mum had just as much of a temper as he did. It was never gonna work. If she hadn't have killed him then there's every possibility he would've killed her. It would never have ended well. They were a disaster waiting to happen, plain and simple. Like a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off. No good ever came out of their relationship... Although I'm sure you'd say that I was the good thing to come out of their relationship."

"Well, if I said that I'd be right," Nick tried to lift her spirits a little.

"The weirdest thing is I didn't even realise I still remembered so much," she shrugged. "It's been a while since I've thought about it so much, focused on so many details."

"Don't upset yourself because of me," Nick's eyes begged her to stop upsetting herself.

"You'd think I'd be over it all by now...," she scoffed.

"There's no set rules on these things," Nick reasoned.

"I've never had the most consistent of relationships with my mum, or the most reliable, but... you know, it's been a long day and it just got to me," Sara tried to explain herself.

"You don't have to justify yourself to me, Sar."

"And she's my mum," Sara choked on a fresh wave of tears, wiping furiously at her eyes before the actual tears could fall. "She's my mum and she's the only family I've got."

"If it's any consolation you'll always have me," Nick tried to lighten the mood.

Sara chuckled. "You'd think you lot would be enough of a family."

"You only have one mum."

Sara nodded. "She's off her meds again, flatly refusing to take them. She's done this before. When she's on her medication she feels good, feels better, and then she decides that she's cured and doesn't need the medication anymore. But she's only better when she's on the medication, when her schizophrenia is under control."

"She's in the right place, Sara. They'll look after her."

"I know. I know that's the right place for her it's just difficult sometimes. She's just difficult sometimes."

"That's mum's for you," Nick smiled, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"And now I've just dumped all this stuff on you, like this...," Sara let out an exasperated, almost desperate sigh.

"Would you stop it," Nick warned her softly. "It's okay to get things off your chest sometimes, it's okay to let people in. We all need someone to share things with."

"I've held onto this for so long...," Sara paused only to take a sharp inhale of breath. "I've always tried to distance myself from it. But I can't. It's part of me, part of my story."

"We all have our own stories, Sara," Nick stated. "We all have our own stuff, our own skeletons in our closets. We shouldn't compare them because everyone's different, and it's how we deal with the things in our past that make us who we are."

Sara cleared her throat. "You're right..."

"And I'm glad you told me. I'm glad you were able to trust me enough with something like this, something so important to you," Nick continued, placing a hand on top of hers. "I mean, at the end of the day I'm just a friend..."

Sara scoffed. "You are more than just a friend, Nick."

"But for you to have trusted me with something like this... I know it must have taken a lot for you to open up to me," Nick explained. "So if you ever need someone to talk to or just a lend of an ear, I'm your guy."

"Thank you. For listening to me. For everything. Seriously, thank you."

"Anytime," he smiled softly and have her hand a gentle squeeze.

Sara wiped at her eyes for what felt like the millionth time and let out a slow breath.

She lay back against the sofa and closed her eyes. Nick leaned back alongside her and instinctively wrapped an arm round her shoulder and pulled her close. To his surprise she didn't put up a fight or resist in anyway.

"Roll on tomorrow, eh?" Sara mumbled, resting her head on her friends shoulder. "Can't get any worse."

Silence soon followed. Nick used this time to let the new information he'd learned sink in. He'd known for a while that she'd spent a part of her childhood in foster care, as she'd made references to it over the years. He also knew she had a mother, as we all do, but he was never sure if when Sara was talking about her mum she meant her birth mum or foster mum. He'd never known the ins and outs of what had led her to be in foster care and naturally he'd been curious to ask but he'd never figured out how to put it. Never had he imagined something like this; it was like one of their cases at work. It seemed so unreal, and yet it made sense. Little things that she'd done or said over the years suddenly made perfect sense and fitted together, and her strong feelings towards domestic violence were a no brainer now. A small part of Nick wondered why he'd never put the pieces together sooner, but deep down he knew that if Sara didn't want anyone to know then no would know because she'd build that defensive wall up so high no one could see over. But that was how she dealt with it, and even that made sense now.

"Sar?" Nick spoke softly.

But she was fast asleep. It was understandable though. It'd been a long enough night at the lab and to then come home and have to deal with all these old yet still raw emotions; it was bound to take it out of her. Plus the fact that she'd been crying which makes your eyes sting and make you feel more tired. He couldn't believe how strong she was being. But he just felt so helpless. He couldn't get the memories out of her head, and he couldn't make the pain go away. He was stuck on the outside with no way to make things better for her. Oh, if she only knew the lengths he was prepared to go to just to make her happy, so he could see that incredible smile of hers.

He pulled her closer and rubbed her arm gently, kissing the top of her head. But he quickly regretted it. He didn't want her thinking bad of him that this whole time he'd had some ulterior motive to get her into bed. He was only ever trying to be a friend to her, trying to help her. She needed a bit of comfort and support and that was all he was trying to provide her with, to just be there for her when she needed him. That's what friends do. But as he pulled her in closer, inhaling the smell of her hair, it didn't feel so friendly. He cared for her deeply, probably more than was friend level. At that moment he wanted nothing more than to turn her to face him and kiss her, kiss away her pain. That was both highly inappropriate and never gonna happen. He thought he'd got over all of that a while ago, moved on from the feelings he'd developed for her. Evidently not.

So instead he resigned to remain in his newly adopted role of protector. That didn't really feel right to say, as he knew deep down this women his in arms could more than defend herself. Sara was tough as old boots, in the best possible way. She had always had to fight to get the things she wanted; she'd never had things handed to her on a plate. Sara had had to fight tooth and nail, had to battle her demons and climb a small mountain just to get to where she was today. But she'd succeeded, achieved her goals. She was a survivor, and pretty damn incredible.

This new vulnerability about her was somewhat refreshing. It was nice to see her in a new light, even if this new light was only now visible after she opened up about her past that was casting shadows on her future. He listened to her calm and steady breathing, finding it rather therapeutic. She looked so peaceful, so at piece with herself and the world. And maybe now she was. Maybe now she could finally begin to recover, to deal with what happened and finally forgive herself. Maybe now she had said the words out loud to someone other than a psychiatrist she could attempt to send those demons back to where they came from once and for all.

There was only one tiny problem with their current situation: she now had him pinned. Not wanting to disturb her by moving, Nick opted to stay where he was, leaning his head back, closing his eyes and succumbing to sleep.

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. I kinda went my own way with the story of Sara's childhood so if there are any massive mistakes please forgive me. I will try and not leave it too long before posting the next chapter, but I'm working on some other stories and ideas. One way or another there'll be more from me soon. Please review.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer – I don't own CSI.

A/N: Hey everyone. Seems like forever since I posted something. I'm working on different things all the time, and hoping to get little things I'm working on wrapped up in time for Christmas. So here's another chapter of this story, I just hope everyone's enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it. And I would just like to say a massive thank you to Kim, for always providing me with the Snicker inspiration I need! This is for you!

Chapter 8

Sara woke to the subtle sound of birds chirping in the distance as a small beam of light snuck through the closed blinds and lit up the bottom corner of the bed. It took her a good few minutes to properly wake up and catch her bearings of the surroundings. She pushed herself up and stretched, letting out a yawn simultaneously. As her arms dropped, she realised she was in bed and had no recollection of getting there.

"Oh hey, you're awake," Nick smiled as she emerged from his spare bedroom/made her way down the stairs. "How'd you sleep?"

"Um... Okay, I think," she replied, still a bit groggy. "How did I...?" she asked, pointing behind her.

"Oh, you fell asleep, we both did," Nick answered.

"Watching TV?" It was coming back to her now.

"Yeah. Then I woke up and told you to go get some proper sleep, and for once you didn't argue with me," he continued, smirking slightly.

"Did you go bed too?"

"Yeah. I've not long been up myself," he replied. "Do you want something to eat?"

"M-maybe in a minute...," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

"Okay. Just give me a shout when you want something," Nick smiled, before turning and walking into the kitchen.

Sara moved quickly to catch up with him. "Hey, look... Nick, before I forget I just want to say sorry for earlier, for...,"

"Why? What for?"

"I just... I just am," Sara shrugged. "It's just... you know, sometimes when you start thinking about things, and it's like lifting the lid on a massive can of worms, and before you know it your head is fit to explode. I guess I just needed someone to unload on. I'm sorry that had to be you."

"Don't mention it. I just hope I helped."

"Oh you did, you definitely did. Last word on the subject, I swear. But honestly, thank you. I think I'd still be in a crumpled heap on the floor if it wasn't for you. So thank you."

"I'm always here for you, you know that," he gave his friend a look.

"Yeah, I know. There's no getting rid of you, no matter how hard I try," she teased.

"Well, if that's how you really feel...," Nick pursed his lips as his phone began ringing. He instinctively reached out for the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"Oh thank goodness, I was beginning to think you were avoiding me," his mother replied. "Your father and I were all set to come down and visit you."

"Oh, hi mum...," Nick looked over to Sara, instantly regretting picking up the phone.

"Will I get you a coffee while you speak to your mum?" Sara asked softly.

"Yes please," Nick mouthed, before speaking into the receiver again. "Yes, I'm still here mum. I'm fine, honestly. Works' fine too, we've just been really snowed under lately..."

Sara left Nick to speak in private while she made them some coffee in the kitchen.

"Yes, yes, she's still here," Nick replied impatiently. He rolled his eyes as his mother spoke further. "No, we're not secretly married, mum. She's just a friend who needed somewhere to stay for a bit. You and I both know you'd have something to say if I hadn't have offered."

He sighed in frustration at his mum. He loved the woman but she couldn't half irritate him sometimes. "Aha...," he mumbled mindlessly as he watched Sara emerge from the kitchen. He smiled as she moved past him. "Yes, mum, I'm still listening. As if I could ignore you..."

Sara smirked slightly as she listened to him talk. Their eyes met briefly as Nick once again rolled his eyes as she was going on and on about him working too much, for probably the millionth time. "Yes, I know, mum. I'll call you straight back next time, I promise. No, I'm not just saying that to shut you up, but I've got to go. I'm off in a couple of days, okay, I'll call you then. And yes, yes I know it's Jessie's birthday, I'll call her too... Of course I will, mum, she's my niece. Yes, okay, that's really great mum but I've really got to go. I'll speak to you in a couple of days, okay? I love you too."

Nick was finally able to hang up the call. "Families, eh? Who'd have 'em?" he rolled his eyes, before quickly backtracking. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I never meant..."

Sara just smiled. "It's fine. It's not a crime to have a family."

Nick could only look at her apologetically.

"Your coffee," she shook her head slightly at him as she handed him over a mug of freshly made coffee.

Nick looked genuinely surprised. "Wow. You can definitely stay again."

She smiled. "Is that you only just speaking to your mum since she called a couple of days ago?" she wondered, sipping on her coffee.

Nick ducked his head. "We have been busy..."

"How many more messages had she left?" Sara asked, pursing her lips.

Nick smiled sheepishly. "Three... Yeah, I know. I won't be winning any Son Of The Year awards this year..."

"You know she only calls because she cares," Sara stated.

"Yes, I know. It's just sometimes I wish she could care just a little bit less," Nick answered truthfully. "That probably sounds awful but I'm not a child anymore, and I'm pretty sure she never checked up on me this much when I was a teenager or when I started college. I think she needs to go back to work."

"What did she used to do?" Sara asked.

"She was an attorney, part of a team of prosecutors working for the DA," Nick explained. "With family commitments it was better for her to work under the DA, more flexible for family life, but she finished top of her class and could've been the DA in her own right. But she's always maintained she doesn't have any regrets about it."

"Clever lady," Sara commented.

"Yeah, well, I had to get it from somewhere," Nick smirked. "That's how she met my dad, through work. She tells the story almost every year on their anniversary. He was a cocky hotshot who thought he was God's gift working for the defence, and my mum didn't like him at all. But she warmed to him, obviously, and it was because of my mum that he switched alliances to prosecuting criminals instead of defending them."

Sara nodded as she listened to him intently.

"So 7 kids and nearly 50 years of marriage later...,"

"Wow, that's not too shabby," she smiled. "You don't hear that very often these days, couples that get together and stay together for life. Nowadays everyone's planning their third or fourth wedding."

"I've never really thought about it," Nick smiled thoughtfully. "It's always been something to aspire to, I guess."

"Having 7 kids is very impressive, but working at the same time... I think your mum's my new hero," Sara commented.

"My parents always wanted a big family. And luckily for me they didn't stop at 6," Nick smirked. "There's a running family joke about my dad being desperate to have another son, hence why I'm the youngest. The youngest and cleverest I like to say."

"And modest too, I see."

The 2 friends shared a smile.

The smile stayed in Nick's face as he reminisced about his childhood. "Even though we were such a big family it was only the nine of us...,"

"Oh because that's such a small number...," Sara smirked

"Ah, well, you know what I mean. My mum was an only child and my dad had two sisters, one of whom died in some kind of car or train crash a few months after my mum and dad met, and his second sister married someone my Grandad didn't approve of so she moved as far away as she could. So it was just us, the immediate family, plus my dad's parents. We didn't have any aunts or uncles, no cousins," Nick explained. "That's something we were all envious of, how our friends would be off on holidays to see their cousins. I remember when I was about 10 that one of my friends' cousin started at our school, and I was so jealous. It's stupid really."

"We all want the things we don't have."

"Yeah… I want my mum to call so much," Nick though aloud. "I want her to not worry so much. I keep telling her she's going to put herself in an early grave. But she's always been like that, for as long as I can remember. She was probably born worrying about something. I know we're her babies and everything, but…"

"You know what they say about mothers and their sons...," Sara gave him a look.

He nodded, letting out a breath. "I suppose it's my own fault really, for moving away. She worries more because she doesn't get to see me as much."

"Did you ever plan on leaving, moving so far away?" she enquired.

"I never set out to, no, but I knew, and my family knew, that it would've been crazy for me to pass up the opportunity. And I don't regret it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss home, my family, watching my nieces and nephews grow up, but I love my job, and they all know that," Nick stated. "What about you?"

"Same really. I never really entertained the thought of leaving San Francisco, or California as a whole really. It was really all I'd ever known. I mean, I know I went away for college and I loved it but it wasn't home you know? But then I figured there was nothing really holding me back, I had nothing really keeping me there, so I had to take the plunge. And here I am. I just don't get to see my mum very often, but neither do you."

"Curse of the job I suppose...," Nick said thoughtfully. "That sounds like I'm complaining. If I didn't love the job I wouldn't still be doing it; we don't stick around for the hilarity of murder. I love what we do. I love solving puzzles, putting pieces together. I love trying to outthink people, outsmart them. It's like playing a massive game of chess. And if we get to help put bad people behind bars then that's mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned."

"You love the adrenaline rush...," Sara interrupted, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Well, yeah," he shrugged, his lips twitching into a smirk. "But who doesn't?"

"No wonder your poor mother worries about you so much," Sara shook her head. "I do, and I didn't give birth to you."

"Maybe she worries so much because I haven't settled down yet. Maybe she'd worry less if I had a wife, a family... I don't know...," he trailed off momentarily. "You know that would actually make sense… she's always trying to set me up with people. I just wish she'd trust my judgement, trust that I know what I'm doing."

"Well, we're all supposedly looking for our better halves," Sara spoke half-heartedly, jokingly even. "She's trying to help, in her own way."

"I suppose you're right," Nick agreed. "But I can find my 'better half' on my own, I don't need her intervention."

She tilted her head curiously. "Really? You really believe in that? You think there's someone out there for everyone?"

"Yeah, why not?" he shrugged, smiling. "You don't?" Sara shrugged too.

"I don't know. It seems too impractical to me, though I don't suppose I've given it much thought."

"Well I think there is. You're just a cynic. I think that somewhere in the world there is a person that everyone is meant to be with."

"You're quite the romantic, aren't you?"

"I try," he shrugged. "I just haven't found her yet."

"You know what your problem is...," Sara began.

"Oh, I have a feeling you're going to tell me," Nick smirked.

"You're too picky."

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just the rest of my life we're talking about here," Nick said sarcastically.

"You can have your pick of women, yet you still complain," she rolled her eyes at him.

"Well maybe I can't have the one that I want."

"You're too picky," Sara maintained.

"I won't settle for anything less than perfect," Nick insisted, smiling coyly.

Thank you for reading. Hope this instalment was worth the wait. I think this may have been one of the shorter chapters so far. The next chapter is already in the process of being written, hopefully it won't take me too long. Please review.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer – I don't own CSI.

A/N: Can't believe I've been working on this story for over a year and a half now, and I'm only just on chapter 9. This story will definitely become my priority next year. In the mean time, let me know what you think of this chapter in a review at the end.

Chapter 9

"Ah, crap," Nick cursed as he stood up. "Have you seen the time? We're gonna be late."

Sara snapped her head towards the clock on the wall. "Damn it."

They both leapt to their feet to get ready for the shift ahead. Heading in the separate directions, they both quickly changed and emerged a few minutes later.

"How do you do it?" Nick asked incredulously, a smile creeping into his face.

"Do what?" Sara looked confused.

"Start getting ready ten minutes ago and still look so perfect?" he smiled.

Sara smirked. "It's a talent."

"Come on, we'll take my car," Nick stated. "And no, you're not driving, I am."

"Ooh, when did you get all assertive?"

"About 30 seconds ago," he replied, opening the car door for his friend and colleague.

The pair had opted to stay awake rather than sleeping, watching a marathon of the some of the best episodes of Friends instead. And they found that they had something else in common, their love for that classic sitcom. After staying up till well after midday, they fell asleep almost instantly, but subsequently slept in. Nick and Sara had been peacefully enjoying a cup of coffee each before Nick realised just how late they were going to be if they didn't get a move on.

Their 2 weeks of living together was almost over, or at least it would be come the end of their following shift. While neither of them overly expressed it, they both had somewhat mixed feelings about the whole thing. They'd had a really great couple of weeks together, and it was a bizarre thought to Sara that in less than 24 hours she'd be finally back in her own home. She'd missed her creature comforts, her box sets, her impractical kitchen. She'd missed it all, and couldn't wait to sit down in front of her TV again to catch up on what she called 'trash TV', her secret pleasure in life, and no longer have to worry about being in a good mood because she was in company.

"You ready to go home?" Nick asked, looking over at his passenger

"Oh yes," Sara exclaimed, though she instantly backtracked. "Don't get me wrong, staying with you has been great but..."

"It's not the same as being at home, I get it."

"But thank you for having me, for accommodating me," Sara smiled. "I really appreciate it."

"You've said that a few hundred times already," Nick rolled his eyes at her, smirking slightly. "But you're right, I am amazing."

"Funnily enough, I don't actually remember saying that."

"Ah, but I know you were thinking it," he grinned.

The traffic in front of them slowly pulled forward, and Nick followed suit. The traffic soon ground to a halt again; another red light.

Sara turned to look at him. "Admit it, you're gonna miss me," she pursed her lips.

"Not as much as you're going to miss me," he retorted.

"It's lucky I'm not moving to the moon, then isn't it?" Sara commented. "If you're lucky I may even invite you round to my newly termite free apartment for some drinks, wet the baby's head so to speak."

"I'll hold you to it," Nick smiled.

Sara laughed lightly. "If nothing else, you can finally have your space back."

"Yeah, because you take up so much room," Nick rolled his eyes as the traffic light turned back to green.

They remained in a comfortable silence as the grew nearer their place of work, the traffic subsiding.

"Does it not feel like we've literally just left this place?" Nick commented, stepping out of the vehicle.

"Always," came Sara's deadpan reply. "It's called having a career. Think you need to get your work/life balance in check."

"Me? Speak for yourself."

"Evening," Catherine greeted as they met at the entrance way. "You two carpooling now?"

"Just thinking about our carbon footprint, Cath," Nick commented.

Following behind Catherine, the 3 of them made their way through the front door, up the stairs, past the reception and into the locker room to get ready for the shift ahead. They reemerged 1 by 1, filing into the break room for their daily caffeine fix before they were officially on the clock.

"You all packed and ready to go home tomorrow, Sara?" Warrick asked, as Nick sat down beside him at the table.

"Not quite...," came Sara's muffled response, hiding her lips behind her coffee cup.

"What do you mean 'not quite'? Not at all is more accurate," Nick interjected, in a teasing tone.

"I'll sort it later," she shrugged it off.

"Well I for one couldn't ever live with him, so hats off to you," Warrick teased.

"He's been alright, I suppose...," Sara pursed her lips at him.

"Don't suppose you've been the worse roommate I've ever had either. That is, until you start cooking," Nick stated, turning to Warrick as he continued. "You should taste her attempt at food, or should I say cardboard..."

"Hey, that's offensive," Sara huffed.

"Yeah, to cardboard."

Grissom walked in seconds later, just before Sara could think up a clever response. "Evening everyone."

Several hours later, Nick and Sara found themselves in the layout room documenting the evidence from their case, working their way through their report.

"Do you know what pisses me off?"

"Lots of things," Nick smirked.

Sara shot him a glare. "And you're at the top of the list right now."

"I'm sorry. Please enlighten me with what is upsetting you today," Nick continued in a sarcastic tone, making sure she saw him roll his eyes.

Sara narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do some detectives have such a sense of entitlement?"

"He's young. He's still learning the ropes," Nick tried to reason with her.

"But to completely ignore our advice, our input, because we 'just deal with the evidence, we don't have any real police experience'," Sara mocked the cocky young detective who'd thrown his weight around, gesturing quotation marks in the air. "I've got more experience in my pinky than he's ever had in his life."

"You and I both know he was just showing off," Nick added. "He's in the minority, and you know that. I'm sure Brass will put him in his place soon enough."

"It just frustrates me, that's all," she sighed.

"Don't let him get to you," Nick insisted. "You need to learn to relax more, and don't take things so seriously all the time."

"What, like you?" Sara arched an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, well I am amazing so..."

"And so modest too?"

The pair shared a small laugh as Catherine walked in. "You guys are still here? Shift ended half an hour ago."

"Time flies when you're having fun, I guess," Nick smirked.

"You two head off," Catherine insisted.

"We won't say no. Little Miss Unprepared over here still hasn't packed her things."

"Yeah, alright. It won't take me 10 minutes," Sara rolled her eyes at him.

"See you later guys," Catherine nodded, leaving the room.

A short while later, Nick and Sara were emerging from the building having packed up everything, ready for food.

"So shall I take you round there now, so you can check everything's ok or...?" Nick shrugged.

"Hang on, Barry's left me a message," Sara replied, putting her phone to her ear.

"What's he said?" Nick asked after a few seconds of silence.

With that, she sighed through gritted teeth, visibly annoyed by the message. "Would you mind having a lodger for another week?"

"What's happened?"

"There's been a set back, or so he says," she rolled her eyes. "What a jerk, leaving me a message instead of telling me straight. It's probably his fault, I wouldn't be surprised if he's forgotten to pay someone."

"It's not the end of the world...," Nick tried to reason with her.

"But that's beside the point, Nick," she exclaimed. "He's messing everyone around. It's not so bad for me, but there are families in the building with kids. It's just not fair. He's playing us all for a fool."

"Well you know you can stay with me for as long as you need to," Nick reiterated what he'd said all along.

"You're sure?" Sara didn't look convinced.

"Of course. It's not exactly your fault, is it?" Nick arched an eyebrow in her direction. "My spare bedroom's not going anywhere, so you can stay as long as you like. Though I'm thinking if you stay for longer than a month I may have to start charging rent..."

Sara shook her head, "It shouldn't come to that."

"I reckon you owe me breakfast," Nick stated, getting into his car.

"I suppose I do,"

Sara remained angry at Barry all though breakfast, stewing over the situation. If steam could have come out of her ears it would have at that moment in time.

She spoke through gritted teeth, "I might just kill, you know."

"Well, give me a call and I'll help you get rid of the body."

Sara chuckled lightly. "You'd need to dig a friggin' big hole."

Nick laughed. "Consider it done."

Thank you for reading. More from me soon. Please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer – I don't own CSI.

A/N: at long last, here's another update. I'm working on getting back to updating regularly, I miss writing so much. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

Chapter 10

"Nick," Sara whispered. "Nick?"

"Huh? What?" Nick woke with a start.

"We've uh, we've got about an hour till we're back on shift," Sara explained, her voice still soft.

"Oh, right, OK," he nodded, not fully awake yet. "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

"You were sleeping, I figured you must have needed it."

"Yeah, I guess I did," Nick nodded, still feeling groggy. "Please tell me your head hurts as much as mine?"

"I can handle my drink much better than you, Nicky."

"Apparently so...," a yawn overtook his face, stopping him mid-speak.

"I'm going to head off just now, run a few errands before work... if that's ok?" Sara explained.

"You don't have to ask permission, you know," he arched his brow slightly, almost smirking.

"I wasn't. I was just making sure. Is there anything you need?"

"I don't think so...," Nick trailed off, shaking his head. "I'll see you in a bit then."

Sara left, and Nick proceeded to make himself a full fry up, just the cure he needed for the dull ache in his head.

Before either of them knew it another week had nearly passed and it was time for Sara to move back home, second time lucky. That morning they'd decided to share a few drinks in celebration of their time spent together. A few quickly turned into a few too many, with them even finishing the half empty bottle of scotch Nick kept for special occasions. But it had been good fun and thoroughly enjoyable; it was just a shame that a hangover had to follow.

Nick sat and ate, trying to wake himself up for the evening ahead. Turns out he couldn't handle his drink like he used to. With a yawn, he stood up and headed off to get showered and changed for work.

He arrived at work a short time later. "Evening," he mumbled as he made his way towards the coffee machine.

"Evening," Catherine smiled back. "Where's your partner in crime? Leave her at home today?"

"She'll be here."

And just like that Sara walked in, smiling widely. It was a wonderful sight to behold. Though Nick did have to hold back a disappointed grunt as he remembered she wasn't half as hungover as he was. As his mind wondered Sara came right over to him and kissed him on the cheek, catching him quite by surprise.

"That's a thank you for this morning," she explained, handing over a freshly brewed coffee she'd purchased from Starbucks.

"Ooh," Greg grinned impishly. "What did you two get up to this morning?"

"It's not what you think," Nick insisted, giving his colleague a stern look. "We had a few drinks, that's all."

"If you say so," Warrick smirked. "We've only got your word for it."

"As if you'd tell us any different," Catherine commented.

"No we wouldn't," Sara smirked. "But there is nothing to tell."

"Does that mean I get a kiss too?" Greg thought aloud.

"Not likely," Sara shook her head, smirking.

Greg's face fell as Grissom walked through the door.

"Hope no one was expecting a slow shift," their boss announced. "Two double homicides have been reported. Warrick, Sara and Greg - you three can take the fresh one on the Strip. That leaves Catherine, Nick and I with a pair of decomposing corpses in Henderson."

"You do it to me on purpose," Catherine sulked. "I swear I still stink from the last time."

Some hours later and Warrick was exiting the break room on the hunt for his colleagues. He swiftly moved through the halls before finding Sara in one of the layout rooms staring into space. It was only as he got closer that he noticed she was in fact staring in the direction of Nick in the garage.

"You okay?" Warrick whispered, lurking over his colleagues' shoulder.

Sara jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. "Huh? What? Yeah, I'm just..."

"Just ogling a fellow coworker?" he arched an eyebrow.

"I wasn't ogling anyone...," she defended herself.

"I see," Warrick pursed his lips as he nodded, trying to feign understanding. "What would you call it, then?"

"I was lost in thought, that's all," she insisted.

"You gonna miss him?" he probed.

"Maybe, a small bit," she pursed her lips. "But I'm not leaving the country, I'm going home, and that's all that should be said on the matter."

Warrick seemed slightly taken aback by her defensive stance.

"And besides, we have more important work to do right now," she insisted.

"Well, you were the one lost in thought..."

"Did you want something?" Sara asked, crossing her arms over in front of her chest.

"Just your expert opinion," he grinned childishly. "If you'll follow me I'll happily show you what I mean."

So she did. And moments later they walking into the trace lab that Warrick had temporarily taken control of. On the table were some particulars that were puzzling Warrick, so he'd sort out an extra pair of eyes.

"I've run the trace twice now, and the chemical composition just doesn't make sense to me," Warrick explained. "Any ideas?"

Sara analysed the results that were presented on the computer screen before looking into the microscope to get a closer look at the molecules in question.

"Huh...," Sara too seemed stumped.

Warrick took the opportunity to divert the subject back to their earlier conversation. "So are you still moving back home tomorrow?" he questioned.

"Not tomorrow, the day after. My landlord called yesterday. But that should be it," Sara explained, looking up from the microscope. "Assuming nothing changes between now and then, that is."

"Positive thinking now," Warrick insisted playfully. "You'll be back home in no time."

"Yeah, back to an empty apartment, an empty life," she shrugged slightly, looking down at that the table. "I'll miss his company, that's for sure."

"You sure that's all you're gonna miss?"

Sara gave her friend a confused look.

"I saw the way you looked at him just now...," Warrick elaborated.

"I don't know what you mean," she pursed her lips.

"Really?" Warrick pulled a face.

"Do you know something I don't?" Sara retorted.

"You tell me...," he shrugged, feigning innocence.

Sara let out a slow breath, feeling the colour rise in her cheeks. "Let's just... Let's just get on with work, shall we?"

"So the best friends' alibi checks out, he really was sat outside a church for 3 hours," Greg announced as he entered the room. "That just leaves the brother..."

"He was there," Sara interrupted, looking up at Warrick. "That'll be where this trace comes from, his plantation. A self-made fertiliser, maybe?"

Warrick nodded in understanding and agreement. "Makes sense."

"Guess we'll have to speak to him again then," Greg stated. "I'd love to see him worm his way out of this."

A few hours later Sara was getting ready to go home, collecting her belongings from her locker.

"Hey, you ready to head off?" Nick asked as he popped his head round the locker room door.

"Yeah, more than ready," she replied.

"Did you get him?"

"Damn right we did," Sara nodded, looking rather proud of herself.

"Knew you would," he winked before walking off.

Sara had a thoughtful drive home. Did Warrick's words have some truth behind them? Was he right? She'd found the way that she thought about Nick had begun to change in recent weeks. They'd grown close, even closer than before. She'd shared things with him that she'd never told anyone else. He made her feel safe, feel comfortable and content. In a strange way he made her feel whole. She'd found the the way that she thought about him had changed quite significantly. Was this normal? Was she just having these kind of feelings for him because of how kind he'd been to her? And yet, she found herself unable to question those new emerging feelings for her long term friend, perhaps too scared to fully delve into what they could potentially lead to.

"Beat ya," Nick teased as he got out his car.

"By like 5 seconds," she retorted, making sure to pick up the bags from the passengers seat before closing her car door. "What is it with men and everything having to be a competition?"

"It wasn't a competition. But if it was I would've won," he grinned playfully.

She rolled her eyes at his childish behaviour once again as he unlocked the front door. Without saying a word to each other, they effortlessly went out removing their coats and boots without getting in each other's way; it was like some kind of interpretive dance routine they'd been working on for years. They reconvened in the kitchen, as Sara lifted her shopping bags onto the counter.

"Cushions?" Nick looked surprised. "I never would've pictured you as a cushion type of person."

"I got a bit carried away," she explained. "I went in looking for paint charts and came out with these, a new shelving unit and a pair of matching side lamps that I really don't need."

"But did you get the paint charts?"

"I did," she nodded. "I figured that my apartment could with with a bit of a spruce up."

"Seems like an appropriate time," Nick commented. "I can lend a hand if you need..."

"I'm quite the handy-woman, I'll have you know," She smirked.

"I don't doubt that. But if you need my help you know where I am,"

"Oh, I think I've had enough of your help lately... which reminds me, I got you something...," Sara trailed off as she fished the item in question out of the bag in her hand.

"Sara, you really didn't have to...," Nick protested.

"Yeah, I know. But I wanted to," she smiled as she produced a large bottle of scotch, and not the cheap stuff either. "You said you liked it. And seen as we finished the bottle off this morning I figured..."

"That's really thoughtful of you. Thank you," he replied. "You'll have to help me finish this, just so you know."

"I look forward to it," she smiled. "And that's my final thank you, I promise."

"It'd better be," he teased, a smirk playing on his lips. "You wanna eat?"

"Definitely."

They ordered in some food and sat flicking through the TV channels to find something decent to watch.

Sara spoke up after a few minutes of quiet eating. "Can I ask you to do me a massive favour?"

"You can ask...," Nick pursed his lips slightly.

"Can you stop by my apartment building later and check in on how everything's going? I'd go myself but I've just remembered I've got a meeting with the DA tomorrow before shift about a case from last week, think the guy's made a deal or something so I need to submit my report, and to be honest with you I probably wouldn't be responsible for my actions if something else has gone wrong with my apartment building."

"Sure thing. I'll go round and make sure everything's perfect for you going home," Nick told her.

"Thank you," she smiled, finding herself letting out a small breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

"No worries," Nick nodded. "Want me to yell at him for you?"

"Nah, I'll do it next week," she decided. "You know, give him a false sense of security before I let him know what I really think of him."

"You can be very vindictive, do you know that?"

"You think that's bad? Have I ever told you about the time I..."

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer – I don't own CSI, or anything else mentioned in this chapter.

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Wanted to have this out sooner but y internet was down. Anyway, I really loved writing this chapter and have so many plans for this story. Until then, enjoy!

Chapter 11

Sara was the first to return home the following day. Nick was in the process of tying up some loose ends in his case so Sara had let herself in. Having already pretty much packed up all her things, Sara opted to take a shower before eating. She closed the bathroom door behind her, and turned on the shower and gave it a few seconds to get up to temperature before stripping down and stepping in. After 10 minutes of relaxing and somewhat intense thinking, Sara figured she was probably clean enough so reached for her towel. She correctly wrapped it around herself as she stared at herself in the steamed up mirror. Her stomach gurgled; the kitchen was calling her name. Minutes later she emerged from the bathroom in a puff of steam. Still clad in a towel, now with an extra one wrapped round her hair, she almost literally collided with her colleague/temporary housemate.

"Good God," she exclaimed, jumping slightly but remembering to cling on to her towel. "Don't do that to me!"

"Oh, I am sorry. This is my house after all, I only live here...," Nick smirked.

"Well you... you shouldn't go sneaking up on people like that," Sara stated, giving him a stern look. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Well, there's always next time," he mocked disappointment. It was then that Nick seemed to notice that she was only wearing a towel, and he suddenly got very flustered and embarrassed. "I'll uh, I'll let you go get dressed," he mumbled, moving aside to let her pass, his cheeks increasing in colour.

Sara re-emerged 5 minutes or so later, her hair still damp but she was now fully clothed.

"Did you stop by my apartment block? Did you find out if everything's good? If I can finally go home?" she asked, somewhat impatiently.

Nick gulped, looking down at the bag of groceries he was unpacking. "Um, yeah, I went. It's been put back another week."

"Again?" Sara exclaimed, raising her eyebrows.

Nick nodded. "Barry said he was sorry. They're working as fast as they can."

Sara signed, clenching her jaw as she spoke, "One more week won't hurt. I mean, if I'm alright to continue staying that is..."

"Of course."

"I swear that man's taking the piss," Sara insisted. "It's not so bad for me, but there are families with kids in that building who need routine and stability and he's just taking us all for a ride. You wait till I next speak to him..."

"Until then, what do you want to eat? Thai? Indian?"

"For breakfast?"

"Yeah, why not?" he smiled.

"Or I could swing by the diner and get those breakfast rolls you like?" Sara offered, smiling.

"That also sounds tempting," Nick thought aloud. "But you don't have to go..."

"No, I'll go," she insisted. "I don't know what I want yet so I'd need to be there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be back as soon as I can, can't have you dying of starvation," she teased before heading out again.

So off she went on her travels, and as she left for the diner she decided that a certain landlord needed a stern telling off.

"Hey," Nick called out when he heard his front door slam shut a while later. "Was starting to wonder where you were."

She walked over to where he was standing and flung a paper bag with his breakfast rolls inside. "It's probably cold," she insisted, deadpan.

Nick furrowed his brow, confused. "That's how I like it."

Sara moved into the living room and dropped her handbag down on the sofa. She stood there and let out a long sigh. He had some serious explaining to do.

"You lied to me, Nicky," Sara stated.

"When did I do that?" he asked.

"This morning," she gave him a look and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh...," Nick gulped.

"I've just been to see my landlord, to let him know what I thought of him, and funnily enough he said the work's complete and I can move back in in the morning," she insisted. "You lied to me. Did you even go round...?"

"No, no, I... I went to see him, I just...," Nick began, somewhat defensively.

"Just what?"

"He said... he said that the work was pretty much done...," he tried to explain. "I... I don't know why I didn't say that, I just didn't. I'm sorry."

"There must be a reason," she countered.

Nick sighed. "I dunno, really. I just said it. It was wrong, to lie to you, but I just sort found myself saying it. I guess... I guess I've been enjoying your company too much. Selfish I know, but... I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry."

"You know, just because I'm going home doesn't mean that we can't still do stuff together, Nick. We can still hang out, still watch films. I'm only going to be like 5 minutes away," Sara insisted.

"I know, I know. It was stupid. I was stupid. Of course you'd want to go home, you've spent long enough here as it is," Nick tried to reason it out. "I really am sorry. You wanna go home, I get that. I really don't know what I was thinking. Forgive me, for having some kind of episode?"

Sara let out a breath. "Breakfast is on you next time, okay?"

"Oh, definitely," Nick nodded. "And the time after that."

"I'll hold you to it," she smiled slightly, as a brief moment of silence fell over them. "I'm just gonna go get my stuff together then."

"Do you want a hand?"

"If you could help me pack the car up, that'd be great," she smiled.

The pair of them swiftly moved in the direction of Nick's spare bedroom to collect her suitcase of clothes and her couple of boxes of belongings that consisted mainly of her forensic journals, and took them out to her car.

Sara dusted off her hands after closing the trunk of her car. "Right, that's me all ready to go then," she stated. "Thanks again for having me."

"Anytime," Nick pulled his lips into a tight, almost forced smile. "Do you want any help unloading on the other end?"

"No, thanks, I should be fine," she insisted. "I guess I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, you will."

She'd been gone a sum total of 30 seconds and his apartment already felt empty without her in it.

In reality, he knew all too well why he lied to her about her apartment being ready; he didn't want her to leave. He also knew how selfish that was of him. He didn't own her, control her. He had no say in her life. He couldn't just dictate to her how her life should be, and somehow expect her to go along with it. If he could only use one word to describe his friend it would most definitely be independent. She didn't let anyone intimidate or bully her into anything. She knew her own mind and wouldn't be persuaded otherwise without hard evidence. She was stubborn too which helped. She was everything that was supposed to put him off, but it proved just the opposite. Nick found all these qualities in her endlessly endearing, and since getting to know even more about her over these last few weeks he'd gone some way in gaining a deeper understanding into what made her tick. She'd gone to stay with a friend; she didn't expect him to fall in love with her. In truth neither had he. That'd been the last thing on his mind. But they'd shared, and endured the ups and downs of their work and it'd been nice to have someone to share it with, someone who truly understood, at least it had been for Nick. He figured if she'd just stay a bit longer then maybe... maybe she'd see things differently, see him differently. But he knew all too well not to interfere with her life, try and play God, and it'd backfired big time. And now she was home, he felt like a total idiot and they were both alone.

It was sometime later, after Nick had microwaved his breakfast rolls, that there was a knock at his door. He rose to his feet to answer it.

"Turn over to CBS, a John Wayne film is on," Sara announced as he opened the door.

"Oh..."

"I couldn't leave properly without watching a John Wayne film. You promised me," Sara explained.

"That I did," Nick smiled as he thought back. "You'd better come sit down then."

She did as was instructed of her. "Oh, and I brought popcorn."

Nick proceeded to make his way into the kitchen to retrieve some drinks for the pair of them.

"What film is it?" he called out.

"Um, it's called... Rio Bravo, is it any good?"

"One of his better ones actually," Nick replied. "It was my grandad's favourite."

"Well I hope he had good taste," Sara quipped.

Nick emerged from the kitchen with some drinks and a large plastic bowl for their popcorn. They placed the bowl of popcorn between the two of them as the film started. Every now and then, Nick found himself glancing over at her to see what she was making out the film. From what he could tell she seemed to be enjoying it.

As Nick looked over once again he found Sara staring back at him, making eye contact and gazing into each other's eyes for longer than was necessary.

"What are we doing?" Sara spoke up after a long minute of silence.

"We're sitting watching a movie," Nick smiled, tilting his head at her.

"Don't do that, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," Sara insisted.

"Sorry, Sar, you've lost me," she shook his head.

"Really?" she met his gaze once again.

Nick let out a breath that had got caught in his throat. "Yeah, we're..."

She leaned forward, inching closer to her.

"Sara...," Nick mumbled his name as she moved closer, their lips almost touching. "Is this a good idea?"

"I don't know." Seconds later Sara took the plunge, being sure to kiss him first. She leaned back ever so slightly to gauge his reaction.

Nick didn't say anything, instead he planted his lips territorially on Sara's, making it instantly clear that he never, ever wanted their lips to part again as long as he lived.

Things seemed to escalate rather quickly. All that pent up sexual tension was suddenly exploding out if them. Without barely separating from each other they somehow managed to stand up and make their way towards Nick's bedroom.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure," she breathed, closing the bedroom door behind them.

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed this. More to come soon.


End file.
